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THE   DEVELOPMi 


■Ki    ii.    i 


......    _ ,      ...  ORD,  CAMBFIDOB,    ^ 

KcrO«  OF  THB    ROVAL  COLLEGE  OF  MUSIC,  AND   FORMEKI- 


From  a  recently  discovered  portrait  in  possession  vi 

Doctor  Kritz  Vol  bach. 

(Courtesy  of  Doctor   Volbach.) 

ILLUSTRATED 


(Tbe  fcnicfierbocfter  preea 


^  t^*^^>4^  anj^^AX^ 


JOHANN    SEBASTIAN 
BACH 


The  Story  of  the  Development  of  a  Great 
Personality 


BY 

C.  HUBERT  H.  PARRY 

MUS.   DOC,  OXFORD,   CAMBRIDGE,   AND   DURI.IN 

DIRKtTOR   OF   THH    ROYAL  COLLEGE   OF   MUSIC,   AiND    FORMFKI.Y    PKOFESSOR 

OF  MUSIC  OF  THB  UNIVERSITY  OF  OXI-OKD 


ILLUSTRATED 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

NEW    YORK    AND    LONDON 

^be  fviilcherbocher  press 
1910 


/u.t-t 


CoPYRICiHT,     19CX) 
BV 

G.  p.   PUTNAM'S  SONS 


Published,  September,  1909 
Reprinted,  March,  1910 


TTbc  Unfckerbocfcer  prees,  Hew  iPorfc 


BlP3 


TO  THE   MEMORY 

OF 

E.  W.  H. 


M750321 


PREFACE 

The  exhaustive  researches  of  PhiHp  Spitta  in  every 
quarter  which  could  aflford  even  remote  illustrations 
of  the  life  and  work  of  John  Sebastian  Bach,  and  the 
voluminous  and  comprehensive  work  which  embodied 
their  results,  might  seem  to  render  any  further  efforts 
in  the  same  direction  superfluous.  His  devotion  and 
ingenuity  in  unearthing  such  facts  as  were  attainable 
after  more  than  a  century  of  public  indifference,  and 
his  shrewdness  in  suggesting  surmises  when  facts  were 
not  to  be  found,  seem  to  leave  little  for  those  to  do 
who  come  after,  but  to  confess  their  obligations  and  to 
acquiesce  in  the  arguments  discussed  and  re-discussed 
without  stint.  But  Spitta's  position,  as  the  first 
thoroughgoing  explorer,  was  inevitably  specialised,  as 
he  could  not  take  anything  for  granted,  and  had  to  set 
down  every  insignificant  detail  of  fact  and  inference 
which  bore  upon  his  argument.  He  felt  himself  bound 
to  give  in  the  utmost  fulness  the  births,  deaths,  mar- 
riages, and  careers  of  remote  relations,  to  discuss  the 
interesting  and  valuable  evidence  of  the  water-marks 
in  the  paper  used  by  Bach  at  different  times  in  his 
career,  and  the  technicalities  of  ecclesiastical  usage 
which  throw  light  on  the  schemes  of  his  Church  Can- 
tatas, and  many  other  matters  which  are  rather  beyond 
the  requirements  of  any  but  specialists.     His  work  is 


VI 


Preface 


inevitably  rather  confused  through  the  vast  array  of 
evidence  which  has  to  be  marshalled,  and  it  is  difficult 
to  derive  from  it,  without  great  effort,  any  clear  idea 
of  the  personality  of  the  composer,  as  a  composer,  or 
any  clear  impression  of  his  work  as  a  whole.  More- 
over, as  the  writer  endeavours  to  supply  technical 
analyses  of  most  of  the  works  he  refers  to,  especially 
of  works  which  are  hardly  ever,  if  ever,  performed,  and 
as  musical  analysis  is,  as  a  rule,  quite  unprofitable 
without  the  actual  Music  analysed,  it  is  necessary,  in 
order  to  get  even  a  limited  understanding  of  the  book, 
to  have  all  Bach's  works  in  the  huge  forty  and  odd 
volumes  of  the  German  Bach  Society,  and  possibly  a 
few  other  editions;  and  it  would  also  entail  several 
years  of  ample  leisure,  and  a  devotion  which  is  prac- 
tically inexhaustible. 

Under  these  circumstances  a  more  condensed  survey 
of  Bach's  life-work  and  his  unique  artistic  character 
may  seem  excusable.  Too  copious  a  presentation  of 
details  is  apt  to  obstruct  that  understanding  of  the 
works  of  any  great  composer  or  artist,  and  the  manner 
in  which  human  qualities  are  manifested  in  them,  which 
is  the  object  of  all  scrutiny  of  their  lives.  .In  Bach's 
case  the  mere  events  and  facts  of  the  life  apart  from 
Art  are  insignificant,  and  in  consequence  of  the  lack  of 
public  interest  which  he  inspired  in  his  own  time  even 
myths  and  legends  are  but  scanty,  so  there  is  but  little 
temptation  to  dwell  upon  matters  of  secondary  im- 
portance. His  life  was  unified  by  the  persistence  of 
strong  and  decisive  qualities  of  character  and  tempera- 
ment, which  happened  to  be  very  characteristic  of  the 
race  and  period  to  which  he  belonged;  and  the  unity 
is  emphasised  by  the  fact  that  he  had  very  little  help 


Preface  vii 

from  outside  in  developing  his  powers,  and  that  he 
went  on  educating  himself  and  expanding  his  re- 
sources from  beginning  to  end.  For  the  purpose  of 
understanding  such  things  it  is  necessary  to  discuss 
technicalities  to  a  certain  extent;  but,  in  view  of  the 
hopeful  manner  in  which  the  actual  knowledge  of 
Music  in  its  technicahties  as  well  as  its  artistic  aspects 
has  progressed  in  recent  years,  there  is  little  need  to 
extenuate  a  consideration  of  the  life  of  a  great  com- 
poser mainly  from  the  point  of  view  of  artistic  develop- 
ment and  self-expression.  But  it  is  necessary  in  such 
a  case  to  ensure  the  identification  of  the  works  referred 
to.  In  vocal  works  and  those  which  have  special 
names  this  presents  no  difficulty.  But  in  connection 
with  some  Organ  compositions,  when,  for  instance, 
several  works  of  the  same  kind  are  in  the  same  key, 
it  is  necessary  to  supply  other  means  of  decisive  identi- 
fication; and  in  such  cases,  for  the  most  part,  references 
are  made  to  the  most  easily  accessible  of  catalogues,  the 
Thematic  Catalogue  of  Peters ;  the  instrumental  section 
of  which  is  referred  to,  for  brevity's  sake,  as  P.  T.  V.  I — ■ 
(Peters'  Thematisches  Verzeichniss  der  Instrumental- 
werke)  with  the  numbers  of  the  references.  In  a  few 
special  cases  reference  is  made  to  the  Catalogue  of  the 
Bach-Gesellschaft  Edition,  indicated  by  the  letters  B.  G. 

C.  H.  H.  P. 

London,  January,  1909. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

PAGE 

Preface    

V 

I. 

Convergences  . 

. 

I 

11. 

Preliminaries   . 

. 

20 

III. 

Weimar     .... 

58 

IV. 

COTHEN       .... 

. 

104 

V. 

Leipzig      .... 

. 

186 

VI. 

The  Matthaus-Passion 

265 

VII. 

The  Motets 

• 

282 

VIII. 

The  Masses 

. 

305 

IX. 

Secular  Cantatas     . 

c 

326 

X. 

The  Oratorios  . 

. 

352 

XI. 

The  Latest  Cantatas 

• 

373 

XII. 

The  ClavterObung    . 

. 

454 

XIII. 

The  Second  Series  of  Twenty 
Preludes  and  Fugues  . 

-Four 

480 

IX 


X  Contents 


CHAPTER 


XIV.    Works  for  Clavier  and  Organ        .  497 
XV.    The  "Musikalisches  Offer"  and  the 

*'KUNST    DER    FuGE"          .             .             •  5 1 3 

XVI.    The   End  ......  532 

XVII.    Postscript         .....  544 

Index 573 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PACK 

JoHANN  Sebastian  Bach  .        Frontispiece 

From    a    recently    discovered    portrait    in    possession    of 
Doctor  Fritz  Volbach. 
(Courtesy  of  Doctor  Volbach.) 

Bach's  Birthplace  in  Eisenach       .        .        .       i8 

From  Die  Miisik,   October,  IQ05. 

(Courtesy  of  Messrs.  Schuster  &  Loeflfler,  Berlin.) 

Bach's  Musical  Autograph      ....       82 

From  the  Leipzig  Edition  of  The  IVorks  of  Bach. 
(Courtesy  of  Messrs.  Brietkopf  &  Hartel,  Leipzig.) 

Bach's  Autograph 146 

Title-page  of  "  Wohltemperirtes  Clavier." 

From  the  Leipzig  Edition  of  The  IVorks  of  Bach.  . 

(Courtesy  of  Messrs.  Brietkopf  &  Hartel,  Leipzig.) 

St.  Thomas's  Church,  Leipzig  ....     188 

From  Die  Miisik,  October,  1905. 

(Courtesy  of  Messrs.  Schuster  &  Loeffler,  Berlin.) 


JOHANN  SEBASTIAN  BACH 


CHAPTER  I 
CONVERGENCES 

Art  seems  to  difTer  from  other  manifestations  of 
human  energy  in  welcoming  so  frankly  the  evidences 
of  personality.  Culture  and  progress  alike  deprecate 
aggressive  individual  prominence.  The  cherished  ideal 
of  the  religious-minded  is  the  effacement  of  self.  The 
philosophical  ideal  is  the  entire  and  perfect  accommo- 
dation of  impulses  and  actions  to  the  general  well-being. 
But  art  not  only  welcomes  the  evidence  of  personal 
initiative;  it  demands  as  one  of  its  first  necessities 
copious  and  consistent  proofs  of  individuality.  Differ- 
ent kinds  of  art  manifest  the  personal  element  in 
different  degrees.  It  is  no  doubt  less  easily  realised  in 
music  than  in  painting;  for  in  that  branch  of  art  the 
mere  attribution  to  a  great  master  on  the  proofs  arising 
from  some  trick  of  the  brush,  or  some  special  subtlety  in 
the  drawing,  is  sufficient  to  make  a  canvas  worth  a  hun- 
dred times  its  weight  in  gold.  The  conditions  of  musical 
valuation  are  quite  different,  and  scarcely  as  favourable 
to  the  assessment  of  the  money  value  of  authorship. 

I 


2  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

Yet  it  is  evident  in  this  art  too  that  not  only  is  the  per- 
sonal element  essential,  but  also  that  works  which  are 
devoid  of  it  are  of  but  mediocre  value;  and  the  greatest 
works  of  all  are  just  those  in  which  the  personalities  of  the 
authors  are  most  vividly  and  unmistakably  expressed. 

The  reasons  are  surely  not  diificult  to  fmd.  The 
man  who  merely  repeats  conventional  types  of  thought 
with  variations,  who,  without  personal  initiative,  ex- 
presses the  average  commonplaces  of  his  time  in  skilful 
and  elegant  diction  can  hardly  boast  of  any  justification 
for  his  achievements.  He  discovers  nothing  for  him- 
self, but  merely  says  what  he  thinks  other  people  will 
like  him  to  say.  He  does  not  even  deal  with  facts  but 
merely  with  other  people's  opinions  about  facts  and 
their  semblances.  He  traverses  no  specious  futility, 
and  sets  no  hand  to  the  seal  to  proclaim  his  "act 
and  deed."  The  true  conviction  is  the  personal  con- 
viction, not  the  acceptance  of  the  conventions  of  the 
complaisant  majority;  and  those  who  have  to  fmd 
their  way  alone  in  tears  and  anguish,  and  hammer  out 
their  own  salvation  unaided,  attain  more  frequently 
to  the  highest  artistic  achievement  than  those  whose 
path  is  smoothed  for  them  by  favourable  opportunities. 

There  are  countless  ways  in  which  the  personal 
element  may  be  manifested.  It  may  be  in  the  prefer- 
ence for  special  types  of  subject;  in  peculiarities  of 
design,  colour,  diction,  or  texture;  in  the  choice  of 
special  types  of  artistic  method;  in  characteristic 
crudities  and  odd  habits  and  tricks  of  expression;  in 
warmth,  impetuosity,  deliberation,  tenderness,  vehe- 
mence, fierceness,  aspiration,  or  any  other  human 
quality;  and  even  in  the  peculiarities  which  betray 
physical  deficiencies  and  mental  obliquities,  as  well  as 


Convergences  3 

those  which  reveal  the  highest  perfection  of  technical 
mastery  and  the  most  patient  and  courageous  recog- 
nition of  inevitable  law. 

There  must  also  be  infinite  varieties  of  degree.  The 
highly  gifted  nature,  which  proves  at  every  moment 
the  richness  of  its  spiritual  outfit  as  well  as  its  technical 
resources,  reveals  its  personality  in  a  very  different 
manner  from  the  nature  which  is  individual  only  in 
its  littleness.  A  light  nature  easily  led,  or  a  tempera- 
ment too  easily  affected  by  external  influences,  pro- 
duces work  which  is  inconsistent  and  lacking  in  unity, 
however  much  special  traits  of  diction  or  method  may 
identify  the  product  with  the  producer.  When  the 
scope  is  great,  the  individuality  is  generally  due  to 
the  unity  and  consistency  of  the  man's  character,  and 
the  persistence  of  firmness  and  conviction. 

And  herein  lies  the  counterpoise  to  the  excessive 
emphasis  which  seems  to  be  laid  on  personality.  The 
man,  whatever  his  greatness  or  pre-eminence,  is  the 
product  and  representative  of  the  conditions  and 
influences  of  his  time,  and  they  are  the  fruit  of  the 
times  that  went  before.  However  little  the  direct 
share  which  mankind  at  large  have  in  the  individuality 
of  a  great  artist's  achievements,  it  is  clear  that  they 
could  not  have  been  accomplished  unless  his  contem- 
poraries were  imbued  with  a  spirit  which  ministered  to 
and  fed  the  exaltation  of  the  individual;  and  they 
could  not  have  been  accomplished  unless  the  workers 
who  went  before  had  prepared  the  way  and  provided 
the  language  or  the  artistic  methods  which  were 
necessary.  These  facts  are  most  easily  verifiable  in 
respect  of  the  artistic  methods.  For  it  is  manifest 
that  their  development  is  a  thing  of  itself,  and  quite 


4  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

independent  of  the  development  of  mankind  in  things 
outside  the  range  of  art.  Great  national  move- 
ments have  taken  place,  and  periods  of  enlightenment 
have  come  about  in  which  the  standards  of  men's 
thoughts  and  habits  have  been  elevated  and  disin- 
terested, and  have  borne  fruit  in  heroic  and  nobly 
purposed  deeds,  without  any  corresponding  artistic 
utterance.  Many  instances  occur  in  the  story  of  art, 
of  striking  and  vivid  personalities  missing  the  oppor- 
tunity of  expressing  themselves  adequately  through  the 
resources  of  art  being  insufficiently  developed  in  their 
time.  The  vivid  personality  of  Monteverde  was  de- 
feated by  the  immaturity  of  methods  in  the  special 
branch  of  art  he  cultivated,  and  Purcell,  for  all  his 
initiative  and  mental  vigour,  most  frequently  suggests 
to  the  hearer  how  great  his  achievements  would  have 
been  if  his  opportunities  had  been  more  favourable. 

The  great  and  lastingly  convincing  works  of  art  can 
come  into  existence  only  when  a  strenuous  temper  of 
mankind  and  a  high  standard  of  sincerity  and  of  mental 
and  moral  energy  happen  to  coincide  with  great  ac- 
cumulation of  artistic  methods  and  adequate  solutions 
of  artistic  problems.  The  great  artist  then  becomes 
the  exponent  of  the  spirit  of  his  contemporaries:  his 
work  is  the  sublimated  essence  of  their  finest  aspirations. 
Men  only  express  themselves  heroically  when  noble  dis- 
interestedness is  frankly  appreciated;  they  only  express 
the  fervour  and  ardour  of  religion  when  religion  is  a 
deeply  rooted  reality,  not  of  forms  and  ceremonies,  but 
of  the  spirit. 

It  can  hardly  be  denied  that  the  seventeenth  century 
was  a  time  when  men  were  fiercely  in  earnest,  and 
ready  to  sacrifice  their  lives  and  their  well-being  for 


Convergences  S 

what  they  believed.  But  circumstances  had  com- 
bined to  prevent  their  expressing  themselves  fully  in 
music.  For  a  time  the  call  for  deeds  was  more  urgent 
than  for  words.  And  when  the  terrible  wars,  in  which 
the  old  Church  endeavoured  to  suppress  the  impulse  to 
break  away  from  her  domination,  wore  themselves  out 
and  the  turmoil  died  dov/n,  great  manifestations  of 
art  followed,  which  presented  themselves,  not  in  the 
countries  or  among  people  who  had  submitted  or  had 
been  coerced  into  acquiescing  in  the  old  order  of 
things,  but  among  those  who  had  established  their 
right  to  liberty  of  thought  and  to  the  exercise  of  those 
kinds  of  religion  which  were  more  consonant  with  the 
progress  of  enlightenment  and  complete  spiritual  sin- 
cerity. Other  nations  may  have  suffered  more  cruelly 
in  religious  wars,  and  m.ay  possibly  have  sacrificed 
more,  but  Germany  not  only  suffered  and  spent  her 
blood  freely,  she  was  also  foremost  in  the  expenditure 
of  intellectual  energy,  and  the  most  effectual  of  all 
nations  in  the  argumentative  war,  in  insistence  on 
liberty  of  conviction,  and  in  appeal  to  men's  judgment 
and  sense  of  right. 

It  was  therefore  appropriate  that,  when  the  Northern 
kingdoms  and  provinces  established  their  independence 
from  the  ancient  ecclesiastical  domination,  it  should 
fall  to  their  lot  to  fmd  the  highest  expression  of  the 
purified  religion  in  music.  It  was  fortunate,  indeed, 
that  the  Germans  did  not  swing  over  into  violent  ex- 
tremes as  did  some  other  nations;  but  adopted  a  form  of 
religion  and  ecclesiastical  arrangements  which  retained 
many  of  the  best  features  of  the  old  religion,  and  ad- 
mitted art  of  various  kinds  as  a  help  to  devotion  and 
as  a  vehicle  of  religious  feeling.     It  was  fortunate,  also, 


6  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

that  the  artistic  efforts  of  the  previous  century  had 
evolved  and  accumulated  methods,  and  roughly  indi- 
cated certain  types  of  form,  which  could  serve  for  the 
purposes  of  religious  music,  though  initiated  under  a 
secular  impulse. 

The  artistic  departure  which  made  the  great  out- 
burst of  Teutonic  art  possible  in  the  first  half  of  the 
eighteenth  century  began  in  Italy  at  the  beginning  of 
the  seventeenth;  when  composers  and  poets,  moved  to 
widen  out  the  range  of  art  beyond  the  somewhat 
narrow  limits  of  the  style  which  prevailed  in  the  music 
of  the  old  Church,  endeavoured  to  fmd  principles  more 
suited  for  secular  purposes.  They  attempted  the 
setting  of  dramas  to  music,  and  having  no  knowledge 
of  the  problems  of  such  secular  art,  they  struck  at  first 
on  very  crude  and  unsophisticated  interpretations  of 
dramatic  situations.  The  obvious  inadequacy  of  such 
premature  experiments  soon  made  them  adopt  courses 
more  within  their  scope.  During  the  latter  part  of 
the  century,  their  efforts  were  mainly  directed  to  de- 
veloping simple  forms  of  solo  vocal  music,  and  to 
laying  the  foundations  of  instrumental  style  as  dis- 
tinguished from  choral  style;  and  this  they  did  by 
giving  attention  to  the  idiosyncrasies  of  instruments, 
such  as  the  violin,  domestic  keyed  instruments,  a  few 
wind  instruments,  such  as  trumpets  and  hautboys, 
and  the  organ. 

The  natural  aptitude  of  Italians  for  music  stood 
them  in  good  stead,  and,  paying  attention  mainly  to 
purely  artistic  effects  of  beauty  of  form  and  musical 
idea,  they  achieved,  by  the  end  of  the  century,  the 
foundation  of  most  of  the  modern  forms  of  art,  whether 
instrumental  or  vocal.    They  transformed  the  old  style 


Convergences  7 

of  choral  counterpoint  into  more  vivacious  and  rhythm- 
ical instrumental  polyphony,  instinct  with  figure  and 
definitely  secular  feeling,  and  even  began  to  find  their 
way  to  new  principles  of  design,  the  organisation  of 
which  implied  the  recognition  of  a  system  of  harmony 
based  on  the  relative  degrees  of  importance  of  the 
constituent  harmonic  contents  of  keys.  The  Italians 
were  in  such  respects  leaders  by  right  of  pre-eminent 
musical  gift,  but  races  which  were  less  musically  en- 
dowed carried  the  work  to  a  more  triumphant  issue  in 
virtue  of  greater  persistency  of  feeling,  greater  force 
and  firmness  of  character,  and  more  consistent  seri- 
ousness of  purpose.  The  Germans  took  up  the  secular 
methods,  but  applied  them  mainly  to  religious  purposes, 
and  to  an  art  intended  to  serve  in  one  way  or  another 
for  the  functions  of  the  Reformed  Church. 

Quite  early  in  the  century  Heinrich  Schlitz,  with  but 
slender  artistic  resources,  and  retaining  in  his  work 
many  traces  of  the  pre-secular  times,  endeavoured  to 
find  utterance  for  the  deep  religious  feelings  which 
possessed  him  in  settings  of  the  Passion  and  of  the  story 
of  the  Resurrection,  and  various  psalms  and  striking 
episodes  from  the  Bible,  endeavouring  to  convey  the 
beauty  of  human  sentiment  rather  than  beauty  of 
melody  or  form.  His  work  remains  unique  for  its 
innocent  and  unsophisticated  sincerity  of  expression; 
but,  though  illustrating  the  German  impulse  toward 
music,  it  hardly  served  as  the  basis  of  any  further 
artistic  developments,  or  as  the  foundation  of  a  school. 
The  composers  who  succeeded  him,  such  as  Hammer- 
schmidt,  Tunder,  Able,  and  Briegel,  adopted  something 
of  his  attitude,  and  in  some  respects  imitated  his 
ways  in  setting  their  words ;  but  they  soon  came  more 


8  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

decisively  under  the  influence  of  Italian  methods.  They 
continued  to  aim  at  expression,  but  their  phraseology 
and  their  treatment  of  solo  voices  were  gradually 
assimilated  to  types  discovered  by  Italians,  and 
towards  the  end  of  the  century  they  lost  a  good  deal 
of  the  vital  force  and  interest  v/hich  attached  to  the 
old  contrapuntal  style  in  their  attempts  to  produce 
effects  which  were  conformable  to  the  predominating 
tendency  towards  harmonic  music.  It  was  fortunately 
but  a  passing  phase,  and  German  sacred  music  was 
ultimately  saved  from  being  dominated  by  the  some- 
what stupefying  influence  of  the  Italian  homophonic 
style  by  the  persistence  of  the  polyphonic  style  in 
their  organ  music.  This  branch  of  art  exercised  a 
very  powerful  influence  on  the  style  of  all  the  branches 
of  art  they  cultivated,  especially  their  choral  music; 
and  it  is  necessary  to  take  some  cognisance  of  it. 

When  organ  music  began  to  grow  into  a  distinct 
branch  of  art,  the  Italians  cultivated  it  with  as  much 
success  as  the  Northern  composers.  Andrea  Gabrieli 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  his 
great  nephew  Giovanni  Gabrieli,  and  Claudio  Merulo 
somewhat  later,  and  Frescobaldi  in  the  early  part  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  proved  themselves  to  have 
fully  as  good  an  instinct  for  the  essentials  of  organ 
style  as  Sweelinck  and  Scheldt  and  other  Northern 
composers  for  the  instrument.  Indeed,  they  were  the 
pioneers  of  genuine  organ  music,  and  led  the  way  not 
only  in  laying  the  foundations  of  the  fugue  form,  but 
also  in  more  free  and  showy  forms  of  art,  such  as  Toc- 
catas, in  which  Merulo  showed  his  instinct  for  virtu- 
osity. But  the  organists  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
soon  lost  hold  of  the  types  of  style  which  were  essential 


Convergences  9 

to  permanently  successful  treatment  of  the  music 
for  this  instrument,  and  lapsed  into  complacent 
vapidity;  abandoning  the  richness  of  texture  (which 
absence  of  expressive  power  in  detail  in  the  organ 
makes  essential)  for  homophonic  and  simple  harmonic 
types  of  procedure  and  conventional  formulas  of  orna- 
ment and  accompaniment,  which  were  adopted  from 
the  secular  branches  of  art,  such  as  the  opera. 

A  few  of  the  Southern  German  Roman  Catholic 
organists,  such  as  Froberger  and  Georg  Muffat,  main- 
tained a  high  standard  of  polyphonic  style,  but  even 
in  the  latter's  work  the  polyphonic  texture  shows  some 
relaxation  of  the  forcible  and  dignified  kind  of  utterance 
which  is  appropriate  to  the  giant  instrument.  It  was 
among  the  representative  Protestant  organists  that  the 
right  energetic  spirit  was  maintained,  and  the  more 
appropriate  style  step  by  step  developed.  While  the 
organ  music  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  became 
superficial  and  poor  in  quality,  that  of  the  Northern 
organists  became  more  and  more  vivid  with  earnestness 
and  intensity  of  artistic  concentration.  The  branches 
of  art  which  most  decisively  distinguished  the  Protest- 
ant from  the  Southern  school  were  those  in  which 
their  beloved  chorales,  the  symbols  and  embodiment 
of  their  religious  fervour,  were  worked  up  into  move- 
ments of  singularly  subtle  artistic  interest.  The 
method  of  procedure  was  such  as  tended  to  foster  the 
polyphonic  style  of  writing.  For  the  chorale  tunes 
were  not  simply  harmonised  as  tunes,  but  were  used 
in  a  manner  analogous  to  that  of  Canii  fermi  in  the  old 
Church  choral  music,  as  a  single  part  around  which  a 
complicated  network  of  polyphony  was  woven.  At 
first  the  secondary  parts  had  been  written  in  a  simple 


lo  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

diatonic  style  similar  to  real  voice  parts;  but  as  com- 
posers' instinct  for  instrumental  style  developed,  they 
introduced  copious  ornaments,  and  manipulated  the 
simple  basis  of  melodic  contours  with  runs,  arpeggios, 
and  other  figures,  such  as  were  appropriate  to  the 
nature  of  the  keyed  instrument  endowed  with  such 
conspicuous  persistence  of  tone,  clearness  of  enuncia- 
tion, and  certainty  of  pitch. 

By  this  means  a  new  style  of  counterpoint  was  de- 
veloped, far  more  elastic,  free,  and  full  of  rapid  figures 
than  the  old  choral  counterpoint,  and  the  independence 
of  organ  style  was  thereby  made  more  and  more 
decisive.  Skill  in  management  of  figures  and  in  the 
maintenance  of  consistency  of  material  was  attained 
through  the  composers'  delight  in  weaving  the  new 
style  of  counterpoint  out  of  characteristic  features  of 
the  chorales,  and  making  the  whole  coherent  in  detail 
by  part  answering  part,  overlapping  and  interchanging 
with  the  same  types  of  melodic  figures.  The  fact  that 
their  hearts  were  engaged  in  compositions  of  this  kind 
expedited  the  development  of  technique,  which  was 
available  in  other  branches  of  art;  and  there  are  indeed 
some  very  close  points  of  contact  between  the  fugue 
form  and  that  of  the  Choralvorspiel. 

In  all  forms  organ  music  arrived  at  an  advanced 
standard  of  independent  maturity  before  the  end  of 
the  century,  as  is  manifested  especially  in  the  works  of 
Johann  Pachelbel  (1653- 1706)  and  Dietrich  Buxte- 
hude  (1637- 1 707).  Of  these  two  remarkable  organists 
and  composers  the  first  occupied  a  peculiar  position; 
since  contact  with  Southern  German  organists  in  the 
earlier  part  of  his  life  gave  him  a  taste  for  simplicity 
and  clearness  of  harmonisation.     The  Italian  influence 


Convergences 


II 


is  most  noticeable  in  his  works  for  domestic  keyed 
instruments,  in  which  are  found  many  of  the  simple 
formulas  of  accompaniment,  such  as  afterwards  became 
common  property.  In  such  cases  the  polyphonic  style 
is  often  totally  abandoned;  and  the  aim  seems  to  be  to 
give  a  pleasant  and  orderly  succession  of  harmonies, 
which  produce  an  agreeable  sense  of  well  ordered 
design,  without  much  interest  in  the  details.  In  his 
organ  works  the  polyphonic  style  is  more  predom- 
inant, and  his  fugues  (such  as  those  on  the  Plain- 
song  of  the  Magnificat)  are  characterised  by  con- 
spicuous fluency  and  ease,  and  his  Toccatas  by  a 
considerable  inventive  gift  in  the  direction  of  pas- 
sages of  display.  He  is  at  his  best  in  his  numerous 
chorale-fantasias  and  chorale-preludes  or  ''Choral- 
vorspiele,"  which  have  a  more  genuinely  Teutonic  ring, 
and  are  not  only  dexterously  manipulated  in  detail,  but 
display  great  variety  of  treatment  and  even  touches  of 
poetic  insight  which  the  somewhat  complacent  effi- 
ciency of  his  other  works  would  not  seem  to  foreshadow. 
In  all  such  matters  he  was  an  important  pioneer.  The 
tendency  towards  harmonic  music  was  inevitable,  and 
Pachelbel's  peculiar  position,  combining  traits  of  both 
the  Roman  Catholic  and  the  Protestant  schools  of 
organists,  was  a  very  strong,  if  not  the  most  powerful 
influence,  in  directing  composers'  minds  to  the  assimila- 
tion of  the  harmonic  and  polyphonic  principles,  and 
helping  to  the  realisation  of  tonal  schemes  of  design. 
Buxtehude  was  a  man  of  very  different  type.  His 
work  is  rugged,  brilliant,  full  of  strong  and  interesting 
individuality  and  depth  of  feeling.  He  is  one  of  those 
composers  who  give  the  impression  of  greatness  and 
nobility  of  mind,  and  when  compared  with  Pachelbel 


12  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

he  makes  that  composer's  work  seem  tame  and  super- 
ficial for  all  its  dexterity.  He  had  quite  as  much 
instinct  for  harmony  as  Pachelbel,  but  of  a  different 
order.  With  him  the  predominant  feeling  is  that  the 
function  of  harmony  as  the  means  of  expression  is  higher 
than  its  function  as  the  means  of  suggesting  design. 
He  delights  in  strange  chords  and  powerful  sequences; 
in  successions  of  harmonies  which  produce  the  effect  of 
the  motion  of  overwhelming  masses.  With  Pachelbel 
the  contrapuntal  texture  often  seems  like  the  orna- 
mentation of  a  succession  of  simple  chords,  with  Buxte- 
hude  the  harmonic  substratum  and  the  rich  polyphonic 
texture  are  admirably  balanced  and  welded  together  so 
as  to  produce  an  effect  of  splendidly  rich  sonority. 

Buxtehude's  instinct  for  instrumental  style  was  phe- 
nomenal, and  as  an  inventor  of  genuine  organ  effects 
he  has  had  few  rivals  in  the  history  of  art.  In  his 
work  it  is  rare  to  fmd  the  time-honoured  imitation  of 
choral  music  adapted  for  the  organ.  If  anything,  he  at 
times  overstepped  the  just  limits  of  elaborate  ornamen- 
tation and  figure.  He  wrote  with  the  true  instinct  of 
the  virtuoso  for  brilliant  and  appropriate  richness  of 
detail,  and  his  resourcefulness  was  so  ample  that  he  but 
rarely  had  to  fall  back  on  conventional  formulas.  The 
extent  to  which  he  outstripped  all  the  organ  composers 
who  preceded  him  is  a  pre-eminent  proof  of  his  genius, 
and  his  influence  upon  art  was  so  great  that  it  may  be 
felt  through  the  great  composers  who  succeeded  him 
up  to  the  present  time.  In  his  works  based  on  chorales 
he  broke  new  ground,  giving  his  examples  a  far  more 
genuinely  instrumental  character  than  his  predecessors 
had  done;  while  his  fugues,  and  chaconnes,  and  the 
passacaglia,  and  works  in  more  elastic  forms,  such  as 


Convergences  13 

toccatas  and  preludes,  present  the  features  of  true 
instrumental  music  not  only  in  detail  but  in  scheme 
and  artistic  method. 

In  his  work  the  labours  of  the  noble  school  of  German 
organists  of  the  seventeenth  century  found  their  cul- 
mination, and  only  one  step  was  needed  to  reach  the 
highest  level  of  organ  music  of  all  time.  It  was  indeed 
the  one  branch  of  art  which  was  successfully  cultivated 
in  Germany  up  to  this  time;  for  in  other  branches, 
though  good  work  was  done,  it  was  all  more  or  less 
tentative  and  immature.  In  music  for  stringed  instru- 
ments the  Germans  were  comparatively  backward,  and 
only  began  to  make  progress  when  they  adopted  Italian 
manners.  Music  for  domestic  keyed  instruments  was 
almost  entirely  neglected  by  them  until  near  the  end 
of  the  century,  and  what  was  achieved  was  either 
strongly  coloured  by  organ  style,  or  thin  and  artificial, 
as  is  the  case  with  Pachelbel's  work.  The  most  con- 
spicuous pioneers  were  Froberger  and  Kuhnau.  The 
former  in  his  suites  for  clavier  manifests  a  very  high 
instinct  for  delicate  treatment  of  the  domestic  keyed 
instrument,  and  had  no  little  share  in  the  development 
of  that  branch  of  art  towards  the  noble  culmination 
which  was  to  come  in  the  next  generation. 

Johann  Kuhnau's  contribution  towards  the  differen- 
tiation of  the  style  of  this  branch  of  art  was  even  more 
decisive.  He  was  a  man  of  culture,  intelligence,  and 
enterprise,  and  having  noticed  the  neglect  into  which 
the  domestic  branch  of  the  art  had  fallen,  deliberately 
set  to  work  to  remedy  it  by  writing  suites  for  the  clavier 
modelled  on  the  lines  contrived  by  Italian  composers 
for  stringed  instruments,  and  sonatas  of  a  somewhat 
polyphonic    character,    and    also    some    programme- 


14  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

sonatas  called  "Biblical  histories,"  which  are  instinct 
with  artistic  ingenuities  and  expressive  and  realistic 
devices.  His  work  in  these  directions  was  really  of 
very  great  importance,  as  it  served  not  only  as  an  initi- 
ative but  as  an  admirable  model  of  texture  and  style; 
and  prefigured  the  lines  on  which  the  fmest  examples 
of  this  branch  of  art  were  designed  soon  after  his 
time. 

But,  while  giving  adequate  appreciation  to  the  work 
of  the  foremost  representatives  of  German  music,  it  is 
well  to  remember  that  a  very  large  number  of  distin- 
guished composers  of  lesser  eminence  ministered  to  the 
advancement  of  their  art  in  their  respective  spheres. 
Though  few  of  them  attained  to  that  decisive  definition 
of  their  own  personality  which  has  been  emphasised 
as  of  such  urgency  at  the  beginning  of  the  chapter,  the 
devotion  of  spirit  which  shines  through  crudities  and 
insufficiencies  in  their  work  afforded  the  most  favour- 
able conditions  for  the  ultimate  achievement  of  great 
results.  Great  works  of  art  are  the  fruit  of  earnestness 
and  devotion,  and  the  belief  that  art  is  worthy  of  our 
best  attention.  The  composers  of  Germany  gave 
ample  evidence  that  this  was  their  attitude,  and  among 
these  composers  one  family  stood  out  pre-eminent,  for 
simple  devotion  to  art,  and  for  the  number  of  distin- 
guished composers  and  performers  which  it  furnished 
to  the  world. 

The  family  of  the  Bachs  is  traced  back  to  the  early 
years  of  the  sixteenth  century.  They  were  peasants, 
farmers,  or  of  such  occupations  as  befitted  that  rank  of 
life,  and  were  scattered  over  various  parts  of  northern 
Germany — at  Grafenrode  and  Rockhausen  near  Arn- 
stadt,  at  Wechmar  in  Saxony.    The  first  of  the  family 


Convergences  1 5 

of  whom  musical  tastes  are  recorded  was  Veit 
Bach,  who  was  a  baker  or  miller  in  Wechmar,  and 
delighted  in  playing  on  an  instrument  described  as 
a  'Xythringen."  His  son  Hans  combined  the  pro- 
fessions of  carpet-weaver  and  musician,  and  studied 
his  art  under  one  Kaspar  Bach  of  another  branch  of  the 
family,  who  was  one  of  the  town  musicians  at  Gotha  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Hans  Bach 
played  on  a  stringed  instrument,  probably  the  viol, 
and  was  well  known  in  many  towns  of  Thuringia,  such 
as  Gotha,  Arnstadt,  Eisenach,  and  Erfurt,  as  a  merry 
fellow,  and  he  seems  to  have  been  in  request  to  play 
with  the  town  musicians  at  those  places.  He  died 
in  1626  and  left  a  considerable  family,  some  of 
whom  were  musicians.  The  eldest  of  his  sons,  Jo- 
hann,  born  in  1604  in  Wechmar,  was  driven  by  the 
scourge  of  war  which  devastated  the  neighbourhood, 
to  seek  opportunities  elsewhere  for  the  employment  of 
his  musical  abilities,  and  settled  in  Erfurt,  where  he 
became  head  of  the  town  musicians,  and  had  many 
sons  who  in  their  turn  became  town  musicians.  Among 
them  was  Johann  Christian,  who  settled  in  Eisenach. 
Another  distinguished  son  of  Johann,  named  Johann 
/Egidius,  born  in  1645,  became  organist  of  St.  Michael's 
Church  and  director  of  the  town  musicians  of  Erfurt. 
One  of  his  sons,  Johann  Bernhard,  born  in  1676,  was  one 
of  the  most  illustrious  m.embers  of  the  family,  filling  the 
post  of  organist  of  the  ''  Kaufmann's  Kirche'*  at  Erfurt, 
and  afterwards  succeeding  his  uncle  Johann  Christoph 
as  organist  of  Eisenach.  He  was  not  only  a  composer 
of  organ  music  but  essayed  his  powers  as  a  writer  of 
suites  for  stringed  instruments.  Many  other  eminent 
musicians  there  were  belonging  to  various  branches  of 


i6  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

the  family  descended  from  Veit,  but  the  most  note- 
worthy at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  were  the 
brothers  Johann  Christoph  (born  in  1642)  and  Johann 
Michael  (born  in  1648),  who  were  the  sons  of  Heinrich 
Bach,  the  youngest  son  of  the  before-mentioned  Hans. 
Johann  Christoph's  official  career  began  early,  as  he 
was  appointed  organist  of  Eisenach  Church  in  1665, 
and  in  that  town  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life. 
Very  little  is  known  of  him  beyond  his  admirable  com- 
positions, but  it  is  highly  probable  that  he  came  into 
contact  with  Johann  Pachelbel,  whose  eminent  position 
in  the  story  of  art  has  been  above  described,  and  who 
was  court  organist  at  Eisenach  for  a  short  time.  Johann 
Christoph's  compositions  are  of  considerable  importance 
and  represent  the  highest  standard  attained  by  the 
family  up  to  that  time.  They  comprise  some  admirable 
examples  of  organ  music  in  the  form  of  the  "Choral- 
vorspiel,"  and  some  very  remarkable  Church  music 
in  the  shape  of  choral  motets,  and  also  a  very  im- 
portant and  picturesque  composition  for  voices  and 
orchestra  known  by  its  first  words  as  Es  erhob  sich 
ein  Streit  {There  was  war  in  heaven).  The  work  is  an 
attempt  to  interpret  in  musical  terms  the  combat 
between  the  Archangel  Michael  and  Satan  in  Heaven, 
which  is  related  in  the  Book  of  Revelation,  chapter  xii. 
It  is  cast  on  broad  and  imposing  lines  for  a  double  choir 
of  ten  voices  with  an  accompanymg  orchestra  for 
strings,  trumpets,  drums,  organ,  and  bassoon.  It  is 
noticeable,  in  view  of  the  admitted  influence  of  the 
polyphonic  organ  style  in  German  compositions  for 
voices,  that  the  treatment  is  hardly  ever  contrapuntal 
or  polyphonic.  The  voices  are  mainly  used  to  declaim 
the  words  in  the  simplest  successions  of  chords,  and 


Convergences  17 

the  use  of  five-part  writing  is  extremely  limited.  The 
violins,  also,  have  very  little  independent  work  to  do, 
and  the  only  instruments  which  are  conspicuously 
favoured  are  the  trumpets,  which  have  very  elaborate 
and  brilliant  passages  to  play,  with  the  view  of  sug- 
gesting the  scenes  of  warfare.  The  effect  of  the  work 
as  a  whole  would  be  imposing  and  massive,  but  the 
style  of  the  treatment  indicates  Italian  influence  in  its 
harmonic  simplicity,  though  not  by  any  means  in  the 
matter  of  diction  or  figure,  or  by  making  concession  to 
public  levity  by  inopportune  tunefulness.  The  better 
kind  of  Italian  influence  is  perceptible  again  in  Johann 
Christoph's  motets,  for  they  are  not  nearly  so  poly- 
phonic as  might  be  expected  of  a  German  organist  of 
that  date.  There  are  passages  in  them  quite  like 
hymn  tunes,  and  very  few  which  are  absolutely  con- 
trapuntal.' At  the  same  time  there  are  some  very 
fine  and  impressive  passages  in  which  harmonic  and 
polyphonic  traits  are  combined,  prefiguring  the  methods 
of  the  great  generation  which  succeeded  him. 

Johann  Christoph's  younger  brother,  Johann  Michael, 
who  was  organist  of  Gehren  from  1673  till  his  death  in 
1694,  wrote  some  choral  motets,  which  show  the  Italian 
influence  even  more  strongly  than  his  elder  brother's 
works,  probably  because  he  was  a  much  weaker  musical 
personality.  The  influence  is,  indeed,  so  pronounced 
that  at  times  the  simple  rhythmic  harmonisation  looks 
more  fit  to  be  played  on  instruments  than  to  be  sung. 
This  strange  phase  extended  even  to  the  romantic 
Buxtehude,  who — so  out-and-out  German  in  his  organ 

1  Exception  must  be  made  of  the  superb  motet  "  Ich  lasse 
dich  nicht, "  which  is  generally  attributed  to  him,  though 
quite  unlike  his  other  works  in  style  and  texture. 

a 


Convergences  19 

Bach  stands  foremost.  Many  other  great  masters  are 
identifiable  through  characteristic  traits  of  diction, 
through  pecuHarities  of  method  and  brihiant  strokes 
of  art  or  effect  which  are  their  peculiar  properties;  or 
even  by  the  width  of  their  scope  and  their  power  of 
handling  great  and  impressive  subjects.  But  no  other 
master  shows  in  small  things  as  in  great  the  same 
degree  of  consistent  humanity.  Though  up  to  his 
time  art  of  the  kinds  which  came  into  being  in  the 
seventeenth  century  had  been  almost  universally  im- 
mature, and  though,  of  more  than  a  century  of  manifold 
creative  effort,  hardly  any  work  remains  to  the  world 
which  has  not  to  be  taken  with  some  qualification  and 
allowance  for  its  immaturity,  he  gathered  into  his 
grasp  so  completely  all  the  methods  and  experiments 
which  had  been  devised  in  different  quarters  and  in 
divers  countries,  and  so  welded  them  by  the  consistent 
power  of  his  artistic  personality,  that  the  traces  of  their 
origin  are  forgotten;  and  the  immense  mass  of  great 
and  noble  works  which  he  poured  forth  in  a  life  of 
ceaseless  activity  seems  to  have  but  one  nationality 
and  one  source  in  the  steadfast  and  energetic  working 
of  a  single  mind. 


CHAPTER  II 

PRELIMINARIES 

It  seems  diificult  to  suppress  the  craving  to  be- 
come intimate  with  the  circumstances  of  the  Ufe  of 
any  man  who  has  achieved  work  that  makes  a  powerful 
appeal  to  us  and  has  exerted  influence  upon  our  lives. 
The  great  ones  who  have  shared  in  the  fashioning  of 
our  souls  are  in  a  sense  our  spiritual  ancestors,  and 
that  in  itself  is  sufificient  to  invite  a  personal  interest. 
And,  besides  that,  the  mental  picture  of  the  incidents 
and  ways  of  such  men  supplies  a  sort  of  background 
and  an  atmosphere  which  seems  to  enhance  our  interest 
in  their  work  and  to  remind  us  agreeably  that  it  is 
human.  But  the  conditions  of  life  are,  in  the  highest 
sense,  mainly  worthy  of  attention  in  proportion  as  they 
throw  light  on  the  achievements  and  quality  of  the 
works  which  make  the  man  memorable.  Mere  bio- 
graphical details  are  superfluous  unless  their  bearings 
are  kept  in  sight,  and  the  attention  is  easily  dis- 
tracted from  essentials  by  laying  too  much  stress  on 
irrelevancies. 

There  are  just  a  few  cases  in  history  when  such  dis- 
traction is  impossible  owing  to  the  lack  even  of  legends. 
This  is  especially  the  case  where  the  type  of  work 
achieved  is  of  the  kind  that  appeals  to  the  higher  type 


Preliminaries  21 

of  mind.  If  the  records  of  those  who  have  won  great 
and  popular  successes  are  deficient,  legends  are  always 
easily  cultivated  and  greedily  stored  up.  Their  ab- 
sence is  a  very  high  compliment.  When  a  great  man's 
life  is  deficient  in  such  things,  the  austerity  of  the  situa- 
tion appeals  to  the  imagination.  The  human  mind 
seeks  for  the  proofs  of  human  origin  in  the  works  them- 
selves and  not  in  the  accessories.  The  lesser  minds 
are  baulked,  but  those  who  are  capable  of  communion 
with  the  highest  manifestations  of  the  human  spirit 
are  fortified. 

It  is,  then,  not  so  overwhelmingly  regrettable  that, 
as  in  the  case  of  Shakespeare,  the  personal  records  of 
John  Sebastian  Bach  are  of  the  very  scantiest,  and 
suffice  for  little  more  than  to  locate  the  successive 
phases  of  artistic  development,  and  to  identify  the 
influences  which  directed  the  attention  of  the  expanding 
composer  and  performer  to  different  branches  of  art 
at  different  times.  The  very  bareness  of  the  outlines 
makes  the  singular  scheme  of  developm.ent  clearer  and 
more  intelligible,  and  gives  to  the  subject  a  greater  and 
more  impressive  aspect  than  any  that  could  be  derived 
from  the  most  picturesque  anecdotes.  The  mind  be- 
comes the  more  free  to  follow  without  distraction  the 
manifestation  of  that  steadfast  and  strenuous  concen- 
tration of  purpose,  in  gathering  together  the  necessary 
artistic  methods  from  all  quarters,  and  in  making 
them  amenable  for  the  service  of  an  individual  artistic 
purpose. 

For  this,  indeed,  is  the  key  to  the  story  of  the  life- 
work  of  John  Sebastian  Bach.  As  has  already  been 
indicated,  when  he  came  upon  the  scene  the  conditions 
were  favourable  to  the  attainment  of  great  results  in 


22  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

certain  large  and  general  respects.  From  his  lineage 
Bach  inherited  a  tradition  of  musicianship  and  a 
whole-hearted  belief  in  his  art.  By  the  temper  of  the 
German  people,  to  whom  he  belonged  and  among  whom 
he  lived,  he  was  inspired  and  fortified  in  simplicity  of 
living,  in  sincerity  of  mind,  and  ardour  of  devotion. 
But  on  the  other  hand  the  resources  of  art  and 
the  technique  of  expression  v/ere  quite  inadequate; 
and  even  such  as  were  available  were  scattered  and 
dissevered. 

Different  men  and  different  groups  of  men  had  been 
identified  with  different  branches  of  art,  and  had  in 
these  several  branches  done  a  good  deal  towards  the 
establishment  of  style  and  artistic  methods.  The 
earlier  members  of  the  great  Italian  school  of  violinists 
and  composers  of  violin  music  had  fairly  established 
the  style  of  their  branch  of  secular  art,  by  formulat- 
ing the  outlines  of  construction  which  were  most 
apt  for  works  written  for  it  and  the  most  practicable 
types  of  diction  in  respect  to  its  physical  peculiarities. 
And  it  is  important  to  note  that  the  most  conspic- 
uous members  of  their  particular  craft,  such  as  Corelli, 
confined  themselves  entirely  to  making  music  for  their 
own  group  of  instruments,  without  attempting  to  ex- 
pand their  scheme  by  experimenting  in  other  fields 
of  art. 

The  composers  of  organ  music  had  been  even  more 
successful  and  had  brought  the  standard  of  their  art 
within  sight  and  touch  of  the  highest  point  of  artistic 
maturity.  Composers  dealing  with  forms  of  greater 
complexity  and  scope,  such  as  operas,  church  music, 
serenatas  and  all  those  larger  forms  which  necessitated 
the   employment  of  various  orders  of  resource,    both 


Preliminaries  23 

vocal  and  instrumental,  were  still  in  comparative  be- 
wilderment. Their  ideas  of  construction,  of  procedure, 
and  of  style  were  all  in  a  nebulous  condition,  and  every- 
thing they  did  manifested  in  every  part  the  helplessness 
of  explorers  as  yet  uncertain  even  in  what  direction 
to  turn.  The  true  principles  which  should  differentiate 
sacred  from  secular  music  were  not  ascertained  or  per- 
ceived. Inartistic  makeshifts,  such  as  the  figured 
basses  to  solo  music  of  all  sorts,  were  not  only  admitted 
but  even  predominant.  Orchestration  had  hardly 
begun  to  exist,  choral  music  was  either  fluently  aca- 
demic, as  in  the  perfunctory  festal  church  music  of  the 
Roman  Church,  or  so  crude  from  the  excess  of  deep 
feeling  over  the  resources  of  expression  as  to  become 
almost  impracticable,  as  was  the  case  with  some  of 
Schiitz's  works.  There  was  no  lack  of  workers,  but 
there  was  lack  of  co-ordination. 

It  is  inevitable  in  art,  as  elsewhere,  that  the  lower 
order  of  human  beings  should  provide  the  groundwork 
for  the  achievements  of  those  of  higher  type.  The 
mechanics  and  everyday  workmen  fashion  the  details 
and  appliances,  and  the  organisers  use  them  for  great 
and  comprehensive  works.  At  the  end  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  things  were  more  or  less  in  a  state  of 
preparation ;  the  appliances  were  ready  in  plenty,  but 
they  needed  the  gathering  together  and  systematisa- 
tion — the  comprehension  which  only  a  man  gifted 
with  the  highest  faculties  and  perception  of  the  widest 
range  can  command. 

At  such  a  moment  different  types  of  men  deal  with 
the  opportunities  afforded  in  different  ways.  The  two 
most  notable  men  who  availed  themselves  of  the  op- 
portunities which  had  been  built  up  by  their  forerunners 


24  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

were,  obviously,  Handel  and  Bach;  and  their  methods 
were  most  instructively  diverse.  Handel,  in  a  different 
field  and  under  different  influences,  systematised  the 
artistic  methods  which  came  in  his  way  in  a  general 
and  practical  manner,  which  served  the  purposes  of  a 
man  who  was  very  much  before  a  very  large  public. 
The  purpose  of  Bach  was  much  more  subtle  and  con- 
centrated, and  very  much  more  personal.  His  art, 
with  certain  inevitable  and  natural  exceptions,  is  far 
more  intimate  than  Handel's.  1 1  presents  the  difference 
of  spirit  and  texture  between  the  type  of  work  which 
is  made  for  a  small  circle  of  attentive  and  earnest  peo- 
ple, who  will  dwell  on  details  at  close  quarters,  and  the 
type  which  is  made  for  a  large  public  not  much  con- 
cerned with  subtleties  of  detail,  but  mainly  with  large 
impressions. 

The  public  circle  of  Bach  was  very  limited  throughout 
his  lifetime,  and  the  largeness  of  his  conceptions  came 
from  innate  promptings  rather  than  from  external 
influences;  and  hence  the  largeness  of  conception  was 
not  vitiated,  as  is  so  frequently  the  case  with  men  who 
are  in  personal  contact  with  large  audiences,  by  the 
histrionic  temptations;  by  the  impulse  to  make  a  show 
on  a  large  scale  with  any  means  that  come  to  hand;  by 
the  endeavour  to  induce  an  audience  to  believe  paste- 
board to  be  mountains  and  mere  exuberance  of  rhetoric 
the  profound  wisdom  of  the  inspired  prophet.  Bach 
was  under  comparatively  small  temptation  to  gloss 
over  imperfections  of  detail  or  false  traits  of  style,  and 
everything  ministered  to  make  his  work  the  veritable 
mirror  of  his  own  nature  and  convictions. 

There  is  no  need  to  gloss  over  the  drawbacks  of  such 
a  position.     By  contrast  of  opportunities  Handel  seems 


Preliminaries  25 

fortunate.  Almost  from  the  first  moment  that  his 
professional  Hfe  began,  he  could  easily  come  into  contact 
with  musicians  of  the  first  rank  in  every  branch  of  the 
profession.  He  was  in  a  position  to  master  the  secrets 
of  his  craft  by  observing  those  who  understood  them 
without  having  to  go  far  afield.  Everything  was 
brought  near  to  his  hand  and  no  great  demands  were 
made  upon  his  personal  individual  effort.  The  con- 
fined area  of  Bach's  life-work  made  it  inevitable  that 
he  should  make  more  use  of  his  own  inner  conscious- 
ness. In  a  small  corner  of  Germany  he  was  not  likely 
to  come  across  brilliant  virtuosos,  or  the  most  distin- 
guished singers  either  of  opera  or  of  sacred  music. 
Indeed,  the  area  of  music  itself  would  at  first  sight  seem 
to  be  rather  limited,  just  as  it  would  be  in  a  fairly  en- 
lightened provincial  district  in  any  modern  country. 
The  highest  standard  of  art  would  then,  as  till  recently 
in  provincial  areas,  be  connected  with  church  func- 
tions. The  organist  would  almost  inevitably  be  the 
ablest  musician  in  the  neighbourhood  and  his  organ 
performances  the  most  frequent  manifestation  of  the 
talents  of  a  solo  performer  to  be  heard  by  the  generality. 
The  predominant  influence  would  be  in  the  direction 
of  serious  art,  even  the  art  of  religion,  and  a  young 
musician  developing  in  such  surroundings  would  natu- 
rally be  impressed  and  influenced  by  the  atmosphere 
of  the  most  serious  and  deeply  felt  types  of  music. 

But  in  Germany,  in  those  days,  music  was  not  con- 
fined entirely  to  ecclesiastical  purposes.  Every  group 
of  habitations  which  was  large  enough  to  be  called  a 
town  had  town  musicians,  who,  in  a  sense,  represented 
secular  art.  They  had,  it  is  true,  to  assist  in  church 
music  both  on  State  occasions  and  at  Church  festivals, 


24  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

were,  obviously,  Handel  and  Bach;  and  their  methods 
were  most  instructively  diverse.  Handel,  in  a  different 
field  and  under  different  influences,  systematised  the 
artistic  methods  which  came  in  his  way  in  a  general 
and  practical  manner,  which  served  the  purposes  of  a 
man  who  was  very  much  before  a  very  large  public. 
The  purpose  of  Bach  was  much  more  subtle  and  con- 
centrated, and  very  much  more  personal.  His  art, 
with  certain  inevitable  and  natural  exceptions,  is  far 
more  intimate  than  Handel's.  1 1  presents  the  difference 
of  spirit  and  texture  between  the  type  of  work  which 
is  made  for  a  small  circle  of  attentive  and  earnest  peo- 
ple, who  will  dwell  on  details  at  close  quarters,  and  the 
type  which  is  made  for  a  large  public  not  much  con- 
cerned with  subtleties  of  detail,  but  mainly  with  large 
impressions. 

The  public  circle  of  Bach  was  very  limited  throughout 
his  lifetime,  and  the  largeness  of  his  conceptions  came 
from  innate  promptings  rather  than  from  external 
influences;  and  hence  the  largeness  of  conception  was 
not  vitiated,  as  is  so  frequently  the  case  with  men  who 
are  in  personal  contact  with  large  audiences,  by  the 
histrionic  temptations;  by  the  impulse  to  make  a  show 
on  a  large  scale  with  any  means  that  come  to  hand;  by 
the  endeavour  to  induce  an  audience  to  believe  paste- 
board to  be  mountains  and  mere  exuberance  of  rhetoric 
the  profound  wisdom  of  the  inspired  prophet.  Bach 
was  under  comparatively  small  temptation  to  gloss 
over  imperfections  of  detail  or  false  traits  of  style,  and 
everything  ministered  to  make  his  work  the  veritable 
mirror  of  his  own  nature  and  convictions. 

There  is  no  need  to  gloss  over  the  drawbacks  of  such 
a  position.     By  contrast  of  opportunities  Handel  seems 


Preliminaries  25 

fortunate.  Almost  from  the  first  moment  that  his 
professional  life  began,  he  could  easily  come  into  contact 
with  musicians  of  the  first  rank  in  every  branch  of  the 
profession.  He  was  in  a  position  to  master  the  secrets 
of  his  craft  by  observing  those  who  understood  them 
without  having  to  go  far  afield.  Everything  was 
brought  near  to  his  hand  and  no  great  demands  were 
made  upon  his  personal  individual  effort.  The  con- 
fined area  of  Bach's  life-work  made  it  inevitable  that 
he  should  make  more  use  of  his  own  inner  conscious- 
ness. In  a  small  corner  of  Germany  he  was  not  likely 
to  come  across  brilliant  virtuosos,  or  the  most  distin- 
guished singers  either  of  opera  or  of  sacred  music. 
Indeed,  the  area  of  music  itself  would  at  first  sight  seem 
to  be  rather  limited,  just  as  it  would  be  in  a  fairly  en- 
lightened provincial  district  in  any  modern  country. 
The  highest  standard  of  art  would  then,  as  till  recently 
in  provincial  areas,  be  connected  with  church  func- 
tions. The  organist  would  almost  inevitably  be  the 
ablest  musician  in  the  neighbourhood  and  his  organ 
performances  the  most  frequent  manifestation  of  the 
talents  of  a  solo  perform.er  to  be  heard  by  the  generality. 
The  predominant  influence  would  be  in  the  direction 
of  serious  art,  even  the  art  of  religion,  and  a  young 
musician  developing  in  such  surroundings  would  natu- 
rally be  impressed  and  influenced  by  the  atmosphere 
of  the  most  serious  and  deeply  felt  types  of  music. 

But  in  Germany,  in  those  days,  music  was  not  con- 
fined entirely  to  ecclesiastical  purposes.  Every  group 
of  habitations  which  was  large  enough  to  be  called  a 
town  had  town  musicians,  who,  in  a  sense,  represented 
secular  art.  They  had,  it  is  true,  to  assist  in  church 
music  both  on  State  occasions  and  at  Church  festivals, 


2  6  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

but  their  viols,  hautboys,  bassoons,  trombones,  and 
cornets  were  not  rooted  in  the  sacred  edifices,  and 
could  betake  themselves  without  difficulty  to  places 
where  dance  music  and  secular  music  of  a  kind  could 
appropriately  be  indulged  in.  Secular  instrumental 
music  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century 
was  not  of  a  very  high  or  exhilarating  order  in 
Germany,  but,  such  as  it  Vv'as,  it  supplied  a  hopeful 
counterpoise  to  the  risks  of  the  predominating  ecclesi- 
astical type,  and  let  into  the  scheme  some  of  the  fresh 
air  of  the  active  world. 

By  good  fortune  this  useful  influence  of  healthy 
secularity  was  conspicuously  present  in  the  earliest 
and  most  impressionable  years  of  John  Sebastian  Bach. 
His  grandfather,  Christoph,  the  son  of  Hans,  seems 
to  have  been  essentially  a  town  musician.  He  was 
one  of  the  official  musicians  of  the  Rath  of  Erfurt 
in  1642,  and  became  one  of  the  court  musicians  of  the 
Count  of  Schwarzburg  and  town  musician  of  Arnstadt 
in  1653  o^  thereabouts,  and  in  that  town  he  is  held 
to  have  died  in  1661.  Both  John  Sebastian's  father, 
Ambrosius,  and  his  tv/in  brother,  John  Christoph, 
were  town  musicians;  and  the  latter  succeeded  his 
father  at  Arnstadt,  while  Ambrosius  returned  to  their 
birthplace  Erfurt,  in  1667,  and  became  a  town  mu- 
sician there  and  afterwards  at  Eisenach,  being  himself 
a  performer  on  the  viola. 

Thus  the  predominant  direction  of  the  artistic  ener- 
gies of  this  branch  of  the  great  Bach  family  was  towards 
secular  rather  than  towards  church  or  organ  m.usic. 
These  circumstances  must  be  taken  into  account  in 
considering  the  moulding  of  John  Sebastian's  musical 
disposition ;  for  it  was  of  no  little  importance  that  the 


Preliminaries  27 

young  and  expanding  genius  should  be  beckoned 
forward  in  his  most  impressionable  years,  by  the  quali- 
ties of  secular  instruments,  in  the  direction  of  the 
human  and  energetic  side  of  art.  Moreover,  it  was 
not  only  in  its  natural  expressive  aspects  that  such 
secular  influence  was  valuable,  but  also  as  embodying 
in  a  very  pronounced  degree  the  secular  element  of 
rhythm.  In  the  earlier  choral  music  rhythm  had 
been  practically  non-existent,  and  in  all  church  music 
it  continued  in  very  pronounced  subordination, 
for  reasons  which  have  been  explained  elsewhere. 
The  genuine  church  composer  always  has  a  sort  of 
uneasy  suspicion  of  rhythm,  and  does  not  dare  to  open 
his  soul  to  it.  It  is  like  certain  things  which,  though 
perfectly  natural  and  innocent  in  themselves,  are  pro- 
hibited by  the  conventions  of  certain  strata  of  society. 
The  value  of  having  such  an  obstruction  to  complete 
musical  expansion  broken  down  at  the  outset  and  sym- 
pathy with  secular  music  aroused  can  hardly  be  over- 
assessed;  and  to  these  circumstances  may  be  fairly 
attributed  the  strain  of  ingenuous  peasanthood  which 
is  never  quite  lost  sight  of  in  the  composer;  and  that 
vivacity,  variety,  elasticity,  and  frankness  of  rhythmic 
force  which  distinguish  him  above  all  the  other 
composers  of  the  century, — unless  perchance,  the 
peasant-born  Haydn  might  be  counted  as  his  con- 
genial compeer. 

Apart  from  the  actual  health-giving  effect  of 
listening  to  such  secular  music,  the  secular  influence 
was  fortified  by  the  young  musician's  addressing  himself 
early  to  the  mastering  of  a  stringed  instrument.  Under 
such  circumstances  as  have  been  referred  to  above, 
it  would  be  natural  for  the  boy's  relations  to  take  it 


28  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

somewhat  as  a  matter  of  course  that  he  should  follow 
in  the  steps  of  his  father  and  grandfather  and  become 
a  "Raths  Musikant";  and  for  that  end  it  was  natural 
and  inevitable  that  he  should  be  instructed  from  the 
earliest  possible  years  in  the  manipulation  of  some 
instrument  of  the  viol  or  violin  type,  and  such  instruc- 
tion he  did  indeed  receive  from  his  father. 

But  it  is  evident  that  the  clavier  was  not  much 
behind  in  the  matter  of  chronology.  Bach  was  at  all 
times  singularly  awake  to  other  types  of  musical  ac- 
tivity or  expression  besides  the  central  ones  with  which 
his  life  seemed  at  special  periods  to  be  specially  occupied; 
and  the  fact  of  a  clavichord  being  accessible  would 
make  it  inevitable  that  the  young  musician  should 
explore  its  possibilities.  But  there  is  nothing  to  help 
the  world  to  discover  who  guided  the  earliest  steps 
which  were  due  to  lead  him  to  the  highest  position 
among  the  performers  of  his  time.  Whether  his  ulti- 
mate pre-emiinence  was  due  to  self-development  or  not, 
it  is  at  all  events  clear  that  the  prevailing  influences 
of  his  childish  years  were  on  the  side  of  secular  instru- 
mental music,  and  an  impetus  was  thereby  given 
which  led  to  his  supreme  position  among  the  secular 
instrumental  composers  of  his  time. 

But  domestic  troubles  soon  brought  the  influence 
of  the  father  and  of  his  particular  line  of  art  to  an  end. 
In  1694,  John  Sebastian's  mother  died;  and  in  a  little 
over  half  a  year  Ambrosius  married  again;  and  then, 
in  the  short  space  of  two  months,  he  too  died,  leaving 
little  John  Sebastian  an  orphan  at  ten  years  of  age. 
He  was  the  youngest  of  a  considerable  family,  of  whom 
very  little  is  known.  One  of  the  elder  brothers,  yet 
again  named  John  Christoph   (born  in   167 1),  was  a 


Preliminaries  29 

musician  of  some  eminence.  He  had  in  his  youth 
enjoyed  the  advantage  of  learning  from  the  famous 
organist  and  composer  John  Pachelbel  during  the  time 
when  he  was  organist  of  the  Prediger-Kirche  in  Erfurt, 
and  in  1690  had  been  appointed  organist  of  the  prin- 
cipal church  in  Ohrdruff,  a  small  town  in  the  same 
Thuringian  district  as  Eisenach  and  Erfurt,  and  here 
he  had  married  one  Dorothea  von  Hof  and  established 
himself.  And  when  the  home  at  Eisenach  was  broken 
up  he  took  his  youngest  brother  to  live  with  him. 

In  such  a  home  new  influences  inevitably  began  to 
operate.  Without  laying  undue  stress  on  the  dilference 
between  the  art  of  a  town  musician  and  that  of  a  mu- 
sician attached  to  a  church  establishment,  it  cannot 
be  gainsaid  that  the  regular,  quiet,  orderly,  and  sober 
existence  of  an  organist  of  a  church,  the  peculiar 
artistic  atmosphere,  and  the  kind  of  work  which  falls 
to  his  lot  to  do  are  liable  to  exert  a  great  and  lasting 
influence  upon  the  unfolding  mind  of  a  young  musician. 
The  better  part  of  such  influence  is  sobering.  It  leads 
to  the  concentration  of  the  faculties  upon  the  actual 
facts  of  art  and  to  finding  pleasure  and  reward  in  them 
rather  than  in  the  applause  which  brilliant  individual 
achievement,  either  as  a  performer  or  composer,  may 
evoke.  And  under  this  influence  it  is  easy  to  see  that 
the  character  of  the  young  musician  soon  received  a 
permanent  bent. 

There  is  no  period  in  his  life  in  which  it  is  more 
natural  to  wish  for  trustworthy  details  of  daily  life. 
But  of  the  kind  of  familiar  details  which  might  throw 
light  there  is  an  absolute  dearth.  There  is  barely 
enough  even  to  suggest  inferences  as  to  the  elder 
brother's  character.     His  having  been  a  pupil  of  Pachel- 


30  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

bel's  is  no  doubt  suggestive,  and  helps  to  explain  the 
respect  in  which  John  Sebastian  held  that  composer — 
a  respect  which  is  shown  in  his  taking  him  at  times  for 
a  model.  For  though  Pachelbel  often  seems  to  lack 
depth  and  smcerity  he  was  one  of  the  most  important 
pioneers  of  style  in  his  time,  and  his  instinct  for  effect 
was  so  great  that  it  has  sometimes  been  sufficient  to 
deceive  the  very  elect  into  thinking  there  really  was 
something  behind  it.  The  earlier  stages  in  the  differen- 
tiation of  style  are  generally  developed  on  a  flimsy 
basis,  though  the  principles  which  they  illustrate  are 
substantially  just;  but  what  filtered  through  John 
Christoph  to  John  Sebastian  was  useful,  as  it  helped 
him  to  the  recognition  of  the  necessity  of  decorative 
treatment  of  detail,  especially  in  secular  instrumental 
music. 

The  only  anecdote  with  any  point  in  it  which  sur- 
vives from  these  early  times  illustrates  his  eagerness 
to  obtain  the  helpful  guidance  of  the  most  famous  mas- 
ters of  his  craft.  It  is  told  that  hisbrother  John  Christoph 
had  a  collection  of  the  most  valuable  compositions  by 
such  men  as  Kerl,  Froberger,  and  Pachelbel,  which  was 
kept  locked  up  in  a  book-case  with  a  latticed  front; 
and  that  John  Sebastian  managed  to  extract  the  roll 
through  the  lattice-work  and  endeavoured  to  copy  out 
its  contents  surreptitiously  by  moonlight;  and  that  John 
Christoph  found  it  out  and  took  the  collection  away. 
The  latter  part  of  the  story  is  superfluous,  except  as 
indicating  a  touch  of  human  nature  which  might  be 
interpreted  in  various  ways;  but  the  story  itself  is 
especially  notable  as  the  first  recorded  instance  of  the 
practice,  which  was  characteristic  of  John  Sebastian 
from  first   to  last,  of  studying   the  works  of  men  of 


Preliminaries  31 

undoubted  ability  in  different  branches  of  art,  and 
gaining  insight  thereby  into  the  methods  and  principles 
of  art  in  order  to  apply  them  to  the  higher  purposes 
which  his  finer  insight  and  more  richly  endowed 
disposition  suggested. 

His  general  education  appears  to  have  been  duly 
attended  to.  The  local  school  or  Lyceum  of  Ohrdruff 
was  by  his  time  a  foundation  of  some  antiquity,  and 
the  scheme  of  the  pabulum  for  young  minds  was  up  to 
the  average  standard  of  the  day,  though  it  supplied 
more  of  concrete  material  in  the  shape  of  elementary 
Latin,  arithmetic,  and  the  inevitable  theology  than 
of  subjects  which  expanded  the  mind.  But,  such  as  it 
was,  the  period  of  schooling  must  have  had  some  little 
influence  upon  John  Sebastian's  character.  His  know- 
ledge of  Latin  also  was  suificient  to  stand  him  in  good 
stead  in  after  life  when  he  was  called  upon  to  instruct 
the  boys  at  St.  Thomas's  School  in  Leipzig  in  that  lan- 
guage as  well  as  in  music.  But  a  more  important  point 
was  that  the  particular  tradition  of  the  school  in  re- 
spect of  Protestantism  was  what  was  technically  called 
"Orthodox"  as  distinguished  from  that  which  was  de- 
fined as  "  Pietistic."  For  it  was  in  the  orthodox  sec- 
tion that  the  church  services  included  the  softening  and 
inspiring  influences  of  art,  which  by  the  pietistic  section 
were  discouraged.  It  is  also  noteworthy  that  music 
was  cordially  recognised  in  the  school.  An  appreciable 
portion  of  time  was  set  aside  for  its  cultivation,  and 
there  was  a  choir  of  boys  who  sang  in  church,  and  also 
(in  accordance  with  the  practice  common  in  Thuringian 
towns  of  those  days)  in  the  streets,  whereby  they  earned 
a  little  money.  This  was  probably  the  beginning  of 
John  Sebastian's  individual  experience  of  the  actual 


S^  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

practice  of  choral  music,  and  for  several  years  he  con- 
tinued to  sing  in  choirs,  which  is  a  most  serviceable 
way  of  getting  into  touch  with  the  mystery  of 
writing  choral  music  sympathetically. 

Beyond  this  not  much  can  be  recorded  of  the  five 
years  during  which  he  lived  with  his  elder  brother  at 
Ohrdruff ;  and  at  the  early  age  of  fifteen  he  had  to  begin 
to  provide  for  himself  and  fmd  his  own  way  in  life. 
His  independent  musical  career  began  in  the  choir  of 
the  convent  school  of  St.  Michael's  at  Llineburg,  in 
which  he  obtained  an  appointment  with  the  small 
monthly  salary  of  twelve  groschen.  Here  he  came 
into  contact  with  a  good  deal  of  music,  much  of  it  of 
good  quality,  for  a  band  of  some  sort  was  attached  to 
St.  Michael's  and  performed  with  the  choir  on  festivals 
and  grand  occasions.  It  is  also  inferred,  from  the 
rich  comprehensiveness  of  the  library  of  the  institute 
at  Llineburg,  that  John  Sebastian  had  opportunities  of 
taking  part  in  the  works  of  the  most  interesting  com- 
posers of  the  eighteenth  century,  such  as  Heinrich 
Schiitz,  Hammerschmidt,  Ahle,  Scheldt,  Briegel,  Criiger, 
and  Pachelbel,  and  some  earlier  members  of  his  own 
family.  The  organist  was  Johann  Jacob  Low,  who 
came  from  Bach's  own  native  town  of  Eisenach,  but 
had  travelled  a  good  deal,  even  as  far  as  Vienna  and 
Italy,  and  had  had  the  privilege  of  being  acquainted 
with  Heinrich  Schiitz  himself. 

But  a  more  important  influence  was  exercised  by 
Georg  Bohm,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  and  inter- 
esting of  all  the  performers  and  composers  of  the  time, 
who  was  organist  of  St.  John's  Church  in  Llineburg. 
The  number  of  his  compositions  which  is  accessible 
in  modern   times   is   very   small;  but   it   is  sufficient 


Preliminaries  33 

CO  indicate  that  he  had  a  considerable  instinct  for 
instrumental  style,  and  cultivated  a  more  ornate 
manner  than  the  earlier  composers  of  organ  music. 
It  is  highly  probable,  moreover,  that  it  was  from  hearing 
Georg  Bohm  play  that  John  Sebastian  was  inspired 
to  set  out  on  one  of  the  pilgrimages  to  extend  his  under- 
standing of  his  art,  which  occupy  such  a  prominent 
space  in  his  early  history. 

George  B  ohm  had  been  a  pupil  of  the  famous  musician 
John  Adam  Reinken,  one  of  the  aged  heroes  of  the 
northern  school  of  organists.  Reinken  had  been  born 
as  long  before  as  1623,  at  Deventer  in  Holland,  and  had 
already  been  organist  of  the  Church  of  St.  Catherine  at 
Hamburg  for  nearly  half  a  century.  His  reputation 
was  very  great  both  as  a  performer  and  a  composer, 
and,  as  Hamburg  was  at  an  accessible  distance  from 
Luneburg,  it  was  natural  that  John  Sebastian  should 
be  possessed  by  the  desire  to  become  personally  ac- 
quainted with  his  artistic  powers.  In  the  end  he 
made  several  expeditions,  mostly  on  foot,  to  that  busy 
old  commercial  centre,  which  has  always  been  so  for- 
ward in  its  interest  in  music.  It  was  in  Hamburg 
that  the  enterprising  German  opera  composer.  Rein- 
hard  Keiser,  had  long  been  in  full  exercise  of  his  re- 
markable versatility;  and  here  also  Handel  had  been 
exercising  his  powers  as  a  violinist,  cembalist,  and  com- 
poser in  the  opera  house  for  some  time,  and  was  very 
likely  so  engaged  at  the  time  of  Bach's  coming  to  the 
town.  Whether,  indeed.  Bach  concerned  himself  with 
the  opera  we  have  no  means  of  knowing,  but  the 
atmosphere  of  Hamburg  was  full  of  music,  and  the 
young  composer  had  excellent  opportunities  there  for 
extending  his  artistic  horizon.     As  far  as  the  veteran 


34  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

Reinken  is  concerned,  there  :s  little  to  be  said  with 
certainty.  That  Bach  went  several  times  to  hear  him 
is  proof  that  he  was  interested  in  his  performances 
and  his  artistic  personality;  and  his  having  based  a 
work  of  his  own  on  Reinken 's  Hortus  Mustcus  in 
later  years  is  proof  that  the  early  impression  was  not 
impaired  by  growth  of  maturer  judgment. 

In  view  of  the  ultimate  quality  of  Bach's  fame 
it  was  fortunate  that  his  stay  at  Liineburg  was  not 
a  very  prolonged  one.  For  though  he  was  in  a  posi- 
tion to  absorb  fruitful  influences,  to  such  a  nature  as 
his  the  example  of  Georg  Bohm  was  not  inexhaust- 
ible; and  the  learning  which  he  could  take  to  himself 
from  listening  to  Reinken  could  only  be  obtained  at  a 
heavy  expenditure  of  time  and  shoe-leather.  In  John 
Sebastian's  time  there  was  no  good  organ  in  Liineburg. 
That  in  St.  John's  Church,  played  by  Bohm,  was  the 
best.  That  in  the  church  with  which  Bach  was  con- 
nected was  very  poor,  and  he  could  play  on  it  only  by 
permission.  It  is  not  possible  to  develop  powers  to 
any  high  degree  of  efficiency  by  merely  listening  to 
other  people,  so  in  a  most  vital  respect  his  opportunities 
were  inadequate.  The  situation  came  to  an  end  in 
rather  an  insignificant  manner;  for  all  that  is  known  is 
that  in  the  year  1703  John  Sebastian  was  no  longer  a 
member  of  the  church  choir  at  Liineburg  but  in  the 
service  of  Johann  Ernst,  younger  brother  of  the  Duke 
of  Weimar.  It  is  not  implied  that  his  appointment 
was  essentially  a  musical  one,  but  it  is  recorded  that  he 
took  part  in  the  performances  of  the  court  band  as  a 
violin  player. 

Weimar  was  always  a  great  artistic  centre,  and  the 
reigning  family  prided  themselves  on  their  encourage- 


Preliminaries  3S 

ment  of  music,  and  their  cosmopolitan  taste.  So  the 
young  musician  had  renewed  opportunities  of  hear- 
ing plenty  of  secular  music.  But  his  stay  at  Weimar 
this  time  was  very  short.  The  episode  makes  but  a 
narrow  interim  between  the  period  of  his  youthful 
probation,  and  the  acceptance  of  the  appointment 
which  marks  the  beginning  of  mature  and  independent 
activity.  The  short  stay  at  Weimar  was,  however,  the 
stepping-stone  to  this  appointment.  For  it  was  the 
near  proximity  of  Arnstadt  which  caused  John  Sebas- 
tian to  go  there  from  Weimar  to  see  some  relations, 
and  this  brought  in  its  wake  an  opportunity  to  play 
on  the  new  organ  in  the  church  there,  when  by  good 
fortune,  some  of  the  people  in  authority  heard  and  were 
impressed  by  his  performance ;  and  this  led  to  his  being 
offered  the  organistship. 

Up  to  this  time,  when  he  was  eighteen  years  old, 
there  is  little  if  anything  which  can  be  decisively  identi- 
fied as  illustrating  his  powers  as  a  composer.  A  few 
compositions  are  speculatively  assigned  to  the  Liine- 
burg  time  on  the  basis  of  intrinsic  qualities,  notably 
a  primitive  Chorale-Prelude  (see  p.  534)  which  shows 
the  influence  of  Bohm;  but  they  do  not  afford  sub- 
stantial matter  to  dwell  upon.  All  that  can  be  safely 
inferred  is  that  he  had  obtained  some  efficiency  as  a 
player  on  domestic  keyed  instruments,  whether  harpsi- 
chord or  clavichord,  that  he  was  an  efficient  performer 
on  a  stringed  instrument,  that  he  had,  in  spite  of  very 
limited  opportunities,  developed  remarkable  powers  as 
an  organist;  and  that  he  had  taken  every  opportunity 
to  develop  his  insight  into  the  mysteries  of  his  art,  by 
keenly  observing  the  performances  of  the  most  distin- 
guished organists  who  were  in  accessible  range  and  by 


36  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

taking  part  in  choral  and  secular  instrumental  music, 
and  thus  preparing  himself  for  the  exercise  of  his  own 
creative  activities,  which  grew  with  steadfast  continu- 
ity towards  the  supreme  mastery  in  these  branches  of 
art. 

The  people  of  Arnstadt  were  very  proud  of  the  organ 
in  the  *'New  Church/'  It  had  only  been  completed 
in  1 70 1,  and  though  of  moderate  dimensions,  as  modern 
ideas  go,  it  was  fully  adequate  to  such  requirements  as 
the  organ  music  of  those  days  imposed.  It  had  a 
great  organ,  as  it  would  now  be  called,  of  ten  speaking 
stops,  four  of  which  supplied  a  good  solid  foundation 
of  diapason  tone;  a  choir  organ  of  seven  stops,  in 
which  it  seems  strange  to  fmd  only  one  stop  of  eight- 
foot  tone — the  Lieblich  Gedackt — with  four  stops  of 
four-foot  calibre  and  a  quint,  a  sesquialtera  and  a  mix- 
ture, which  must  have  produced  a  strangely  brilliant 
effect;  and  last,  and  by  no  means  least,  a  substantial 
pedal  organ  of  five  stops,  of  which  two  were  of  sixteen 
feet,  one  of  eight,  and  two  represented  the  higher  har- 
monics; which  could,  moreover,  be  coupled  to  the 
manuals. 

It  seems  that  the  authorities  were  not  well  satisfied 
with  their  organist  at  the  time  when  John  Sebastian 
visited  the  town  and  gave  proofs  of  his  abilities;  so 
the  former  was  gently  shelved  and  John  Sebastian  was 
appointed  in  his  place  in  August,  1703,  he  being  then 
eighteen  years  of  age.  Together  with  his  duties  of 
organist  he  comibined  those  of  training  the  choir  of 
the  church,  and  rehearsing  a  kind  of  musical  society 
which  provided  another  choir  on  a  large  scale.  Here 
Vv'ere  plenty  of  opportunities  for  the  exercise  of  his 
powers,  and  he  was  also  fortunate  in  finding  the  people 


Preliminaries  37 

of  Arnstadt  well  disposed  towards  music,  a  court 
theatre  where  musical  performances  were  sometimes 
given,  and  also  a  few  musicians  of  ability. 

John  Sebastian  had,  unquestionably,  an  ample  supply 
of  native  independence  of  character,  but  he  had  also  the 
common-sense  to  adopt  courses  which  were  most  likely 
to  lead  him  to  the  highest  practical  results  in  the  long 
run.  His  career  is  a  perfect  study  of  natural  and  spon- 
taneous direction  of  human  energy  in  accordance  with 
the  opportunities  he  found  for  testing  and  establishing 
the  results  of  his  work.  In  every  change  in  the  condi- 
tions of  his  environment  throughout  his  life  he  adapted 
himself  to  the  line  of  work  which  fitted  in  with  it. 
Here  in  Arnstadt  his  opportunities  lay  in  the  direction 
of  works  for  choir  and  orchestra  and  works  for  the 
organ;  and  intrinsic  qualities,  as  well  as  a  network  of 
interlacing  circumstances  given  by  Spitta  in  a  note, 
make  it  fairly  certain  that  the  church  cantata  Dennau 
Strst  niiine  Seele  nichi  in  der  nolle  las  sen  was  composed 
at  Arnstadt  very  soon  after  he  was  appointed  there. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  the  cantata  is  known  only 
in  a  revised  form  dating  several  years  later,  and  that  it 
would  therefore  be  unsafe  to  point  to  any  of  its  excel- 
lencies as  representing  the  standard  of  his  art  at  this 
date  or  to  draw  inferences  from  them;  but  on  the  other 
hand  there  are  features  which  evidently  belong  to  the 
original  form  of  the  work,  and  are  highly  significant. 
The  band  for  which  it  is  written  is  of  the  constitution 
which  was  most  familiar  in  those  days  in  opera  as  well 
as  in  sacred  music,  in  the  works  of  Alessandro  Scar- 
latti and  Hasse  as  well  as  of  Handel,  comprising  the 
usual  group  of  strings,  with  trumpets  and  drums.  A 
great  many  solo  voices  are  employed  for  arias  and 


38 


Johann  Sebastian  Bach 


recitatives,  and  the  chorus  is  used  but  sparingly.  In 
some  respects,  as  for  instance  in  the  instrumental 
passage  with  which  it  opens  (which  is  repeated  with 
modifications  in  the  latter  part  of  the  second  half  of  the 
cantata),  the  style  is  bald  and  crude.  Fanfares  of 
trumpets  which  are  built  on  the  simplest  harmonic 
successions  make  their  appearance,  and  the  treatment 
of  the  strings  is  dull  and  commonplace.  The  solo 
movements  are  very  limited  in  scope  and  for  the 
most  part  restricted  to  the  simplest  harmonies.  In 
some  of  them  there  are  attractive  and  characteristic 
passages  of  tune  of  a  joyous  and  direct  type,  which 
bring  some  of  Reinhard  Reiser's  tunes  to  mind;  as  in 
the  duet  Weichet  Furcht  und  Schrecken,  and  the  tenor 
solo  Entset{ei  eucb'  nicht,  and  the  soprano  solo  Auf,'^ 
jreue  dich  Seele. 

Soprano  Solo. 


dein 


Auf,    freu  -  e   dich,  See  -  le,    du     bist    nun  ge  -  trost, 
Stkings.  


S35J 


(^     •' 


T 

I 


=1==? 


x-=^t-^-^. 


Heiland  der  hat  dich  vom  Ster-ben  er-l6st,  vom  Ster-ben  er-l6st. 


=|: 


:»^: 


:1= 


£3EE5^ 


^^ 


Most  of  these  solos  are  cast  in  a  very  compact  aria 


Preliminaries  39 

form,  and  they  are  generally  characterised  by  very  long 
and  elaborate  runs,  such  as  are  met  with  in  the  works 
of  German  church  composers  of  the  latter  half  of  the 
previous  century,  who  borrowed  the  device  from  the 
Italians.  In  later  days  Bach  used  such  decorative 
features  with  great  aptness,  usually  for  purposes  of 
expression.  But  here  the  aptness  appears  only  in  a 
general  sense,  and  the  forms  of  the  florid  passages  are 
conventional.  There  is  only  one  chorus  of  any  di- 
mensions, Mein  Jesii,  mein  Heifer,  and  this  is  as  bald 
and  as  plain  as  the  treatment  of  the  instruments  above 
referred  to.  The  final  chorale  is  so  vastly  superior  in 
texture  and  interest  to  the  other  movements  that  it  is 
natural  to  infer  that  it  belongs  to  a  later  date  than  the 
rest  of  the  work.  The  cantata  is  at  a  more  consistently 
high  level  than  the  cantatas  of  Buxtehude,  which  seem 
likely  to  have  been  Bach's  models,  and  there  are  plenty 
of  characteristic  traits  of  the  composer  in  elementary 
disguises.  But  there  is  a  lack  of  development,  a  lack  of 
richness  in  polyphony,  a  lack  of  intrinsic  distinction 
in  the  substance,  a  lack  even  of  expression;  though 
there  are  gleams  in  the  recitatives  where  the  true  John 
Sebastian  is  momentarily  revealed,  as  in  the  passage 
from  the  recitative  for  soprano. 


^      Soprano. 

yf   4-     ^,»          1 

— ^- 

— ^  — 

^- 

1 

— 5t- 

V  — 

-s^ 

^{'Q 

konnt 

—  c? — 

es 

an  - 

— •— 
ders 

sein? 

Ein 

t^ 



1 

-"-7^ 

— 1 

CONTINUO. 


40  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 


-N- 


— h — g->-f_! 


Menschderkannzwarsterben,       Gott  a-ber  leb-et  im-mer-dar. 


Circumstances  which  occurred  later  make  it  likely 
that  John  Sebastian  did  not  compose  any  more  cantatas 
while  at  Arnstadt ;  and  though  a  good  many  organ  com- 
positions are  referred  to  this  period  of  his  life  for 
reasons  which  will  be  discussed  later,  the  only  work 
which  known  circumstances  almost  decisively  prove 
to  have  been  composed  at  Arnstadt  is  a  work  not  for 
organ  but  for  the  domestic  keyed  instrument,  the 
clavier.  Interest  in  this  work  is  enhanced  by  the  fact 
that  it  stands  by  itself  in  a  line  upon  which  Bach  never 
again  adventured,  rightly  discerning  that  such  a  type 
of  programme  music  was,  for  him,  superfluous.  The 
event  which  originated  the  composition  is  decisively 
identifiable.  His  brother  John  Jacob  entered  the 
service  of  Charles  XI 1.  of  Sweden  in  1704  as  a  hautboy 
player  in  the  King's  Guards,  and  his  departure  to  take 
part  in  an  enterprise  of  that  impetuous  monarch 
(whose  service  inevitably  suggested  copious  risks)  in- 
spired John  Sebastian  to  embody  his  feelings  in  a 
musical  work  in  several  movements,  described  in  the 
title  as  "Capriccio  sopra  la  lontananza  del  suo  fra- 
tello  dilettissimo." 

Programme  music  of  this  kind  was  by  no  means  a 
novelty  in  those  days.  Froberger,  most  interesting  of 
South  Germian  organists,  had  astonished  his  admirers 
by  his  powers  in  this  direction,  and  French  composers 


Preliminaries  41 

for  the  clavier  or  harpsichord  were  beginning  to  culti- 
vate it  with  evident  preference  and  success.  Moreover 
it  had  been  but  as  recently  as  1700,  that  the  admirable 
Johann  Kuhnau,  organist  of  St.  Thomas-Kirche  and 
cantor  of  the  Thomas-Schule  in  Leipzig,  had  pub- 
lished the  notable  group  of  biblical  history  sonatas 
before  referred  to,  in  which  interest  of  workmanship 
and  happy  instinct  for  expression  are  combined  with 
quaint  fancy.  It  is  very  likely  that  Bach  was  in- 
fluenced by  these  precedents,  and  there  is  a  certaio 
kinship  between  traits  in  his  work  and  those  in  some 
of  Kuhnau's  which  makes  it  likely  that  he  was  ac- 
quainted with  them. 

The  importance  of  the  work  in  the  story  of  Bach's 
life  is  that  it  represents  such  a  sudden  attainment  of  a 
high  and  equal  degree  of  mastery,  and  such  a  consistent 
revelation  of  the  composer's  personality.  Were  it 
not  for  the  dates  being  identifiable  almost  beyond  dis- 
pute it  would  be  difficult  to  believe  that  it  could  have 
been  produced  so  early.  But  the  explanation  is  fairly 
evident.  The  programme  happens  to  be  an  ideal  one, 
and  represents  genuine  and  serious  feeling;  and  this 
programme,  by  thoroughly  enlisting  his  heart,  caused 
his  faculties  to  concentrate.  One  of  the  drawbacks  of 
the  youthful  artist  is  that  the  eagerness  to  express  him- 
self is  not  always  seconded  by  certainty  as  to  what 
courses  are  rnost  apt  for  the  occasion.  The  meaning 
of  methods  by  which  purely  artistic  developments  are 
achieved  is  only  reached  by  experience.  But  the  lack 
of  such  experience  can  sometimes  be  serviceably 
compensated  by  a  clear  and  unmistakable  emotional 
impulse  which  keeps  the  faculties  from  wandering. 
Bach  was  especially  amenable    to   emotional  impres- 


42  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

sions.  Most  of  his  greatest  achievements  are  the  fruit 
of  subjects  which  moved  him  deeply — the  episodes 
of  the  Passion,  the  Vv'ords  of  the  'Xrucifixus,"  the 
"Sanctus,"  the  "  Incarnatus."  The  consciousness 
of  having  some  definite  feeUng  to  express  always 
helped  him.  He  looked  for  it.  In  nearly  all  the  great 
first  choruses  in  the  cantatas  it  is  perfectly  clear  that 
the  words  generated  an  impulse  in  him  to  express  in 
the  many-sided  fashion  that  belongs  to  music  the 
actual  phase  of  praise,  prayer,  contrition  or  exulta- 
tion, which  is  embodied  in  the  text. 

So  in  connection  with  this  programme  the  young 
Bach  had  something  definite  to  which  he  could  address 
himself,  something  which  supplied  a  basis  of  consist- 
ency in  many  different  aspects  of  the  same  root-idea. 
There  are  no  less  than  six  movements.  In  the  first — 
a  short  arioso — the  friends  endeavour  to  dissuade  John 
Jacob  from  his  risky  enterprise.  The  sympathetic 
listener  seems  to  be  able  to  see  right  into  Bach's  mind 
and  to  feel  with  him  the  reiteration  of  tender  appeal.^ 


The  second  movement   (a  concentrated  little  fugue) 
represents  the  anticipation  of  dangers  to  which  the 

«  Bach  afterguards  developed  this  icei  in  a  marvellous 
fashion  in  the  slow  movement  of  the  Toccata  in  D  minor  for 
Clavier,  see  p.  71. 


Preliminaries 


43 


traveller  will  be  liable — a  movement  of  foreboding  and 
anxiety.  The  third  movement  has  a  remarkably  subtle 
ground  bass  over  which  all  kinds  of  plaintive  melodic 
figures  are  presented;  expressing  very  clearly  the 
laments,  the  tears,  the  sorrowing  gestures  of  the  friends ; 
such  as  the  quite  typical  passage, 


^3^=^fc^i 


^-#=s=^ 


mf 


t: 


^•- 


^-=^#-^#- 


ir-»- 


fztjt 


bg: 


-^ 


and  the  surprisingly  frank  chromatic  wail, 


^^gggEg^^ggggg^ 


ata 


:?24: 


i^: 


[feS: 


I 


giir^^fe^ 


-^- 


In  the  fourth  movement  the  friends  see  that  protest  is 
of  no  avail  and  endeavour  to  attain  to  dignified  resigna- 
tion. And  then  the  whole  aspect  of  things  changes. 
In  comes  the  postilion  cracking  his  whip,  to  a  bustling 


44  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

little  burst  of  tune,  which  seems  to  tell  the  kind  of  ad- 
ventitious gaiety  which  often  accompanies  the  excite- 
ment of  a  departure  on  a  long  journey!  And  the 
last  movement  is  a  most  entertaining  fugue  on  a  tune 
supposed  to  be  played  by  the  postilion  on  his  horn, 
with  the  crack  of  the  whip  through  it  all !  The  mastery 
of  thematic  material — from  the  point  of  view  of  what 
each  item  means — is  quite  astonishing.  It  cannot  be 
doubted  that  the  actual  scenes  of  the  journey  with 
the  merry  postilion  and  the  galloping  horses  were 
actually  in  Bach's  mind  as  he  wrote;  and  it  held  him 
firmly  to  the  matter  in  hand.  The  result  is  the  most 
dexterous  piece  of  work  of  the  kind  that  had  ever 
appeared  in  the  world  up  to  that  time. 

The  whole  work  presents  the  individuality  of  the 
composer  with  perfect  consistency;  and  the  actual 
artistic  execution  and  the  modelling  of  the  movements 
are  at  the  highest  pitch  of  fmish.  Such  being  the  case, 
it  seems  strange  that  Bach  never  again  wrote  a  single 
movement  of  what  may  be  described  as  programme 
music,  and  that  a  work  so  perfect  should  be  so  little 
known.  The  explanation  of  the  first  mystery  would 
require  a  long  dissertation  on  the  whole  question  of 
programme  music.  All  that  can  be  said  here  is  that 
Bach  undoubtedly  recognised  that  the  actual  naming 
of  a  programme  for  instrumental  music  has  the  effect 
of  circumscribing  and  belittling  the  music.  And  that 
fact  answers  the  second  riddle.  Beautiful  as  the 
music  is,  it  is  on  a  very  small  scale.  B  ach  himself  prac- 
tically extinguished  it  by  the  weight  and  depth  of 
expression  of  what  he  produced  in  later  days.  For  a 
really  great  individuality  the  attitude  of  mind  here 
manifested    is    not    adequate    to    the    highest    pur- 


Preliminaries  45 

poses.  Yet  its  being  limited  in  this  case  suited  the 
occasion,  since  Bach  being  as  yet  only  nineteen  and 
insufficiently  sure  of  his  methods,  was  likeliest  to 
achieve  a  perfect  work  of  art  within  a  range  which 
was  necessarily  restricted. 

It  was  not  long  after  this  composition  had  been 
achieved  that  his  ardour  to  extend  the  scope  of  his 
artistic  mastery  impelled  him  to  make  himself  familiar 
with  a  master  of  higher  gifts  and  stronger  personality 
than  he  had  ever  hitherto  met.  Dietrich  Buxtehude 
was  at  that  time  organist  of  St.  Mary's  Church  at 
Lubeck,  and  his  personal  pre-eminence  was  enhanced 
by  the  musical  traditions  of  the  town.  His  predeces- 
sor, Franz  Tunder,  had  been  a  composer  of  con- 
siderable mark,  who  had  produced  a  great  quantity 
of  church  music  of  fme  and  serious  quality,  wor- 
thy, indeed,  of  being  linked  by  kinship  of  feeling 
with  the  works  of  John  Sebastian.  Buxtehude 
had  married  Tunder's  daughter  and  succeeded  him. 
His  great  position  among  the  musicians  of  his  time 
has  already  been  indicated  (page  12),  but  it  miust  be 
further  pointed  out  here  that  his  line  of  work  as  well 
as  his  personal  qualities  would  be  most  sympathetic 
and  most  opportune  at  the  moment  to  John  Sebastian. 
The  breadth  and  power  of  his  conceptions,  the  richness 
and  novelty  and  elasticity  of  his  treatment  and  his 
exceptional  instinct  for  instrumental  style  were  well 
calculated  to  attract  the  interest  of  a  young  composer 
of  John  Sebastian's  disposition.  Moreover  it  is  easy 
to  see  from  the  texture  of  his  organ  works  that  Bux- 
tehude must  have  been  a  brilliant  performer;  and 
not  only  that,  but  also  endowed  with  a  large  human 
capacity    to    enjoy    his    art    as  well   as   to    make 


46  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

it.  His  activities  extended  also  in  other  directions 
which  ran  parallel  to  John  Sebastian's  work.  For 
the  institution  of  the  ''Abend-Musik''  at  Liibeck  (an 
annual  series  of  musical  performances  on  a  large  scale 
which  took  place  on  several  days  in  Advent)  afforded 
him  occasions,  as  it  had  done  his  father-in-law  before 
him,  to  compose  large  works  for  voices  and  orchestra 
and  put  them  to  practical  tests.  The  church  cantatas 
he  wrote  for  such  occasions  are  historically  important, 
as  establishing  the  connecting  link  between  him  and 
Tunder;  and  they  have  moments  of  human  feeling 
which  speak  the  same  sensitive  language  as  John 
Sebastian  in  spite  of  their  being  on  the  whole 
rather  tentative. 

In  this  comprehensive  kind  of  composition  he  was 
hindered  by  the  backwardness  of  many  branches  of  art 
which  had  to  be  brought  into  one  sheaf.  The  back- 
wardness of  orchestration,  and  of  the  delicate  arts  of  ac- 
companiment, caused  the  demands  on  the  inventive 
powers  to  be  too  heavy  even  for  a  man  of  his  calibre. 
The  language  was  inadequate  to  the  utterance  of  his 
thoughts.  In  such  things,  he  was  toiling  for  others 
to  achieve,  but  he  had  toiled  far  enough  for  it 
to  be  worth  while  for  John  Sebastian  to  take 
his  work  in  this  line  into  consideration,  while  in 
organ  music  there  was  absolutely  no  man  living 
who  could  give  him  such  an  interesting  and  inspiring 
example. 

Liibeck  was  fifty  miles  from  Arnstadt,  but  to  John 
Sebastian  the  distance  was  of  no  account  even  if  the 
journey  had  to  be  undertaken  on  foot,  so  great  was 
the  urgency  of  his  desire  to  observe  the  greatest 
achievements    in    his    line    of    art.     So    in    October, 


Preliminaries  47 

1705,  he  applied  for  leave  of  absence  from  his  duties 
and  betook  himself  on  another  pilgrimage  similar  to 
that  of  earlier  years  to  Hamburg.  But  there  un- 
happily the  curtain  of  oblivion  descends  again,  for 
not  a  word  of  any  kind  of  evidence  is  known  as 
to  what  he  did  at  Lubeck  or  how  he  spent  the  passing 
days.  No  one  even  knows  what  were  his  personal  re- 
lations with  Buxtehude  himself — all  that  is  known 
is  that  the  attraction  was  so  great  that  he  could  not 
tear  himself  away,  and  that  he  long  outstayed  his  leave. 
By  which  means  he  had  at  least  the  opportunity  of 
hearing  the  Abend-Musik,  before  mentioned,  in  the 
year  1705,  for  it  was  not  till  February,  1706,  that  he 
finally  set  out  to  resume  his  work  at  Arnstadt.  It  is 
not  surprising  that  the  consistory  of  the  church  where 
he  had  treated  his  duties  with  such  scanty  respect  were 
not  pleased,  and  he  was  summoned  to  give  an  account 
of  his  doings  and  to  explain,  if  he  could,  his  neglect 
of  his  duties.  The  record  of  the  interview  between  John 
Sebastian  and  the  consistory  remains,  and  is  one  of 
the  rare  documents  in  which  particulars  of  an  episode 
in  his  life  are  accessible  in  complete  and  unmistakable 
fulness. 

The  consistory  or  its  chairman  asked  him  where  he 
had  been  so  long ;  to  which  he  answered  that  he  had  been 
at  Lubeck,  where  he  had  gone  with  the  intention  of 
learning  some  things  connected  with  his  art.  He  was 
then  reminded  that  he  had  had  leave  for  fourweeks  and 
had  stayed  four  months;  and  he  made  the  rather  lame 
excuse  that  he  hoped  his  deputy  had  replaced  him 
satisfactorily.  The  consistory  then  took  the  oppor- 
tunity to  express  their  views  on  other  matters  which 
were  not  quite  to  their  liking,  and  their  complaints  are 


48  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

enlightening.  They  said  his  variations  on  the  chorales 
were  "surprising,"  and  that  he  bewildered  the  congrega- 
tion by  "many  strange  sounds"  which  he  introduced 
into  his  accompaniments.  That  his  preludes  had  been 
too  long,  and  that  when  it  had  been  pointed  out  to  him 
he  had  made  them  too  short.  That  he  went  to  a  wine 
shop  during  the  serm.on,  and  that  he  had  not  had  any 
choir  practices  whatever.  The  indictment  was  grave, 
but  apparently  a  peace  was  patched  up  and  he  resumed 
his  duties.  But  the  impulse  generated  by  the  influ- 
ence of  Buxtehude  and  the  music  he  had  heard  at  Lii- 
beck  impelled  him  towards  absorption  in  composition ; 
his  relations  with  the  authorities  began  to  get  strained 
again,  and  in  November,  1706,  he  received  another 
remonstrance  from  the  consistory.  The  choir  practices 
were  again  referred  to  as  having  been  neglected,  and 
the  fact  that  a  strange  lady  had  been  admitted  by  him 
into  the  choir  and  had  been  allowed  to  "make  music" 
there  was  remarked  upon.  It  becomes  clear  that  John 
Sebastian  was  not  altogether  happy  in  the  man- 
agement of  his  work  at  Arnstadt,  and  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  he  took  an  early  opportunity  of  accepting 
an  appointment  elsewhere.  But  meanwhile  the  refer- 
ence by  the  consistory  to  the  "strange  lady"  catches 
the  attention.  It  is  always  construed  as  a  reference 
to  Maria  Barbara,  the  youngest  daughter  of  his  uncle 
Michael  Bach  of  Gehren,  the  younger  brother  of 
Johann  Christoph  who  has  before  been  mentioned 
as  one  of  the  most  distinguished  musicians  of  that 
generation.  Their  meeting  is  explained  by  her 
mother  having  been  a  native  of  Arnstadt,  of  which 
town  her  father  had  been  town  clerk;  and  it  is  supposed 
she  may  have  gone  there  on  a  visit  to  her  maternal 


Preliminaries  49 

relations.  The  ultimate  outcome  washer  betrothal  to 
John  Sebastian. 

But  before  the  marriage  could  take  place  a  new 
phase  of  Bach's  career  began  at  MUhlhausen,  where 
he  was  appointed  organist  of  the  Church  of  St. 
Blasius,  and  installed  on  June  15,  1707.  The  musical 
traditions  of  MUhlhausen  were  of  a  high  order.  From 
1654  till  1673  the  organist  of  St.  Blasius  had  been 
Johann  Rudolf  Ahle,  a  man  of  great  mark,  whose  com- 
positions rank  very  high  among  the  best  church  works 
of  the  latter  part  of  the  previous  century.  And  he 
had  been  succeeded  by  his  son  Georg  Ahle,  who  was 
also  a  composer  of  considerable  ability  and  of  great 
repute  in  his  time.  He  was  John  Sebastian's  imme- 
diate predecessor,  and  his  death  in  December,  1706,  had 
left  the  place  vacant.  The  appointment  at  MUhlhausen 
does  not  appear  from  a  material  point  of  view  to  have 
been  any  great  improvement  on  that  at  Arnstadt.  The 
salary  of  the  organist  was  of  about  the  same  slender 
proportions,  amounting  to  something  under  ;£io  of 
modern  money:  the  principal  enhancement  of  which 
consisted  of  a  few  measures  of  corn,  two  cords  of  fire- 
wood, some  brushwood,  and  three  pounds  of  fish  per 
annum! 

Even  in  matters  more  nearly  connected  with  his  art 
no  striking  improvement  is  noticeable.  The  organ  in 
St.  Blasius  seems  to  have  been  in  bad  order,  and  one 
of  the  most  interesting  documents  drawn  up  by  John 
Sebastian  himself  which  remains  to  the  world,  is  his 
scheme  of  suggestions  for  making  good  its  defects. 
The  main  trouble  must  be  inferred  from  this  document 
to  have  been  that  the  bellows  were  insufficient  for  the 
work  they  had  to  perform,  and  John  Sebastian  made 


50  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

some  simple  and  practical  suggestions  about  them. 
Most  of  the  other  suggestions  refer  to  new  stops,  and 
in  these  are  somie  noteworthy  features.  It  seems 
surprising  to  modern  ears  that  he  recommended  the 
addition  of  no  less  than  six  new  harmionic  stops 
to  the  choir  organ  and  only  one  soft  stop  of 
8-foot  tone.  This,  together  with  the  strange  con- 
stitution of  the  choir  organ  at  Arnstadt  suggests 
that  musicians  of  the  time  had  a  liking  for  this  quality 
of  tone,  comprising  the  least  possible  foundation 
and  a  crowd  of  harmonics,  and  that  Bach,  either  from 
association  or  individual  taste,  endorsed  it.  Another 
feature,  which  chimes  with  what  everybody  must  feel 
who  knows  his  music,  is  the  number  of  suggestions  he 
makes  with  regard  to  the  pedal  organ,  in  which  he 
wanted  a  better  supply  of  wind,  a  32-foot  stop,  and  a 
complete  set  of  new  and  larger  pipes  to  the  bass  posaune, 
which  would  add  weight  and  fulness.  The  most  sur- 
prising of  the  suggestions,  when  coming  from  a  com- 
poser of  Bach's  disposition,  is  that  a  set  of  twenty-six 
bells,  which  the  parishioners  had  already  procured 
and  paid  for,  should  be  attached  to  the  pedal  organ. 
However,  there  seems  no  need  to  infer  that  Bach 
used  the  bells  in  the  pedal  parts  of  his  fugues  and  toc- 
catas. It  was  not  at  all  an  unusual  thing  in  the  Middle 
Ages  to  have  peals  of  bells  connected  with  mechanical 
appliances  like  organ  keys  or  pedals,  which  were  played 
upon  by  an  individual  performer;  and  elaborate  music 
was  written  for  such  contrivances,  and  musical  repu- 
tations, like  that  of  Mathias  van  den  Gheyn,  were  even 
founded  on  such  compositions  and  performances. 
And,  moreover,  whatever  artistic  purists  might  say 
about  it,  the  sound  of  carillons  and  bells  mixed  up  with 


Preliminaries  51 

a  hurly-burly  of  singing  and  organ  and  other  instru- 
ments has  a  strangely  exhilarating  effect  on  brilliant 
festive  occasions;  and  for  such  occasions  these  bells 
may  well  have  been  reserved. 

The  suggestions  for  these  extensive  alterations  seem 
to  have  been  taken  in  good  part,  and  the  work  decided 
on.  But  so  short  was  Bach's  stay  in  Mlihlhausen  that 
the  reconstruction  was  not  completed  before  he  had 
moved  elsewhere.  However,  short  as  this  stay  was, 
it  was  signalised  by  important  events.  The  first  of 
these  was  his  marriage  with  his  cousin  Maria 
Barbara  Bach,  to  whom  he  had  been  but  a  short  while 
before  betrothed,  as  before  mentioned,  while  he  was 
still  organist  at  Arnstadt.  The  marriage  ceremony  took 
place  at  the  village  church  of  Dornheim,  near  Arnstadt, 
on  October  17,  1707,  and  the  parish  register  recording 
it  contains  some  quaint  points  about  the  late  Am- 
brosius,  "the  famous  town  organist  and  musician  of 
Eisenach,"  John  Sebastian's  father,  and  Johann  Michael 
**the  late  very  respectable  and  famous  artist."  And 
it  was  in  Mlihlhausen  that  John  Sebastian  began  to 
experience  the  domesticities  of  married  life,  which 
always  seem  to  have  been  so  desirable  to  members  of 
the  Bach  family. 

But  a  yet  more  significant  event  than  his  marriage, 
as  far  as  the  world  was  concerned,  was  the  production 
of  his  first  really  important  work.  It  was  customary 
in  Mlihlhausen  for  certain  members  of  the  town 
council  to  be  changed  once  a  year,  and  for  the  occa- 
sion to  be  celebrated  by  a  church  festival,  including 
music,  which  the  organist  of  St.  Blasius  was  expected 
to  compose.  And  for  this  occasion  John  Sebas- 
tian composed   the   "Rathswechsel  Cantata,"  Go// Z5/ 


52  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

mein  Konig,  which  was  performed  on  February  4, 
1708. 

Here  indeed  the  cornposer  already  rnanifests  an 
astonishing  range  of  mastery.  With  the  possible  ex- 
ception of  an  early  Passion  by  Handel,  there  probably 
was  no  other  sacred  work  of  the  kind  in  existence 
which  could  in  any  way  compare  with  it.  It 
has  an  air  so  commanding  and  forcible,  and  so 
wide  a  range  of  expression,  that  it  is  difficult 
to  realise  that  it  is  one  of  Bach's  very  earliest 
works.  The  treatment  of  the  chorus  already  shows 
his  remarkable  instinct  for  all  manner  of  choral 
effects.  With  regard  to  the  treatment  of  orchestral 
instruments,  it  is  interesting  to  localise  the  historical 
position  by  calling  to  mind  that  Corelli's  concertos  did 
not  make  their  appearance  till  several  years  later. 
The  work  is  conspicuously  noticeable  for  the  number 
and  variety  of  the  instruments  employed,  which  makes 
it  even  exceptional  among  his  cantatas.  It  is  scored  for 
two  flutes,  two  hautboys,  a  bassoon,  three  trumpets 
and  drums,  strings,  solo  violoncello,  and  organ;  and  in 
some  ways  the  use  of  the  instruments  seems  more  nearly 
in  touch  with  the  methods  of  modern  orchestration 
than  in  many  of  his  later  works,  as  the  tone  qualities 
are  solidified  by  using  the  characteristic  instruments  in 
groups,  instead  of  treating  them  purely  contrapuntally. 

The  spacious  scheme  opens  in  a  very  bold  and  ani- 
mated manner  with  full  chorus  shouting  '*Gott  ist  mein 
Konig!"  to  an  accompaniment  of  three  trumpets  and 
drums  and  vivacious  passages  for  strings,  such  as  was 
eminently  suitable  for  an  important  civic  occasion. 
To  such  massive  effects  succeed  some  finely  contrived 
polyphonic  passages  showing  strength  and  freedom  in 


b 


Preliminaries  53 

the  disposition  of  the  several  voices,  and  ending  with 
repetition  of  the  jubilant  phrases  of  the  opening  pas- 
sage. This  is  followed  by  a  duet  aria  in  which  the 
tenor  solo,  Ich  bin  nun  achi^ig  Jahr,  is  interspersed 
with  the  phrases  of  a  chorale  given  to  the  soprano 
voice  accompanied  by  the  organ.  Both  the  matter 
and  the  manner  are  very  characteristic,  and  it  is  particu- 
larly interesting,  in  view  of  later  phases  of  Bach's 
career,  to  note  so  early  an  appearance  of  a  form  in 
which  phrases  of  the  chorale  are  fragmentally  intro- 
duced. Other  choruses  are  alternated  with  the  solos, 
and  represent  different  moods.  One,  Du  wollest  dent 
Feinde  ntcht  geben,  is  quite  in  a  tender  vein,  and  is 
accompanied  throughout  by  a  persistent  figure  for  the 
violoncello  which  is  elaborated  with  characteristic  skill 
and  certainty  of  handling,  the  effect  being  fmely  en- 
hanced at  the  end  by  giving  corresponding  passages  to 
the  higher  wood-wind  instruments  and  strings.  There 
are  two  fugal  choruses  of  diverse  character,  which  show 
already  a  considerable  facility  in  the  management  of 
that  form,  though  they  are  not  developed  so  spaciously 
as  many  of  his  later  fugal  choruses.  The  solos  are 
conspicuous  for  the  energy  and  decisiveness  of  the 
musical  ideas,  but  they  too  are  short  and  broken  up 
into  contrasted  passages  following  the  meaning  of  the 
words.  One  of  them.  Tag  und  Nacht,  is  accompanied 
by  wood-wind,  and  another  for  alto  voice,  of  very 
forcible  character,  to  the  words  Durch  mdchiige 
Kraft,  is  accompanied  by  three  trumpets  and  drums. 
The  cantata  ends  with  a  jubilant  and  energetic  chorus 
similar  in  spirit  to  the  first.  The  words  are  treated 
throughout  with  vivid  sense  of  their  meaning,  often 
suggesting  inferences  which  widen  the  horizon,  and  the 


54  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

whole  scheme  is  carried  out  with  surprising  efficiency. 
The  personaHty  of  the  composer  is  already  strongly 
in  evidence,  and  if  the  short  spell  at  Muhlhausen  had 
nothing  more  to  show,  the  production  of  this  work, 
his  first  strong  composition  in  cantata  form,  would 
signalise  it. 

There  is  amply  adequate  reason  moreover  for  be- 
lieving that  another  cantata,  ^^^5  der  Tieje  ruje  ich, 
Herr,iudir,W2iS  also  composed  at  Muhlhausen.  .It 
was  probably  a  funeral  cantata,  and  this  gives  it  ad- 
ditional interest;  as  it  was  quite  a  characteristic  quality 
of  J.  S.  Bach  to  be  deeply  moved  by  the  idea  of  death, 
and  many  of  his  most  poetical  cantatas  are  associated 
with  that  solemn  theme— not  taking  it  in  a  gloomy 
sense,  but  as  a  thought  suffused  with  mystery  and 
tenderness. 

It  may  serviceably  be  compared  on  the  one  hand 
with  the  early  cantata  composed  at  Arnstadt,  and  on 
the  other  hand  with  later  examples  of  funeral  music. 
The  standard  of  artistic  execution  is  certainly  higher 
than  that  in  the  Arnstadt  cantata.  The  vocal  subject 
allotted  to  the  first  words  (and  anticipated  in  the 
instrumental  introduction) 


Aus      der       Tie 

is  full  of  meaning,  and  even  at  this  early  stage  illus- 
trates Bach's  liability  to  be  influenced  by  the  realistic 
suggestion  of  the  words.  The  bass  solo,  So  du  willst, 
Herr,  Sunde  {u  rechnen,  is  exquisitely  and  character- 
istically expressive  of  the  sentiment.  The  opening  of 
the  second  chorus  is  finely  conceived;  and  the  tenor 


Preliminaries  55 

solo,  Meine  Seek  wartet  aiij  den  Herrn,  is  a  kind  of 
preliminary  study  for  the  type  of  movement  in  slow 
J/  time,  which  Bach  ultimately  developed  into  such 
lovely  conditions.  It  is  very  significant  that  in  both 
these  solos  (as  in  the  tenor  solo  in  Goit  ist  mcin 
Konig)  a  chorale  is  introduced,  the  phrases  of  the  tune 
Herr  Jesu  Christhting  sung  by  a  second  voice  at  inter- 
vals throughout  the  arias.  Thus  both  solos  show  close 
kinship  with  that  beautiful  Teutonic  form,  the  chorale- 
fantasia,  of  which  it  will  be  seen  in  the  sequel  that 
Bach  made  frequent  use  in  later  times  both  in  choruses 
and  in  the  solo  form  here  exhibited;  in  which  the 
chorale  seems  to  come  in  like  an  illuminative  aside  to 
the  discourse  of  the  aria  or  recitative.  The  frequent 
early  appearances  of  such  a  device  are  very  notable, 
as  it  is  highly  characteristic  of  his  Teutonic  attitude, 
which  was  most  pronounced  in  the  earliest  and  latest 
phases  of  his  career,  and  only  partially  in  abeyance  in 
the  central  period  in  his  life,  when  he  was  assimilating 
and  co-ordinating  in  his  own  personality  such  cosmo- 
politan methods  and  forms  as  were  needed  for  the 
full  complement  of  his  artistic  armoury. 

So  much  may  be  said  for  the  intrinsic  spiritual  mani- 
festation of  the  cantata;  and  yet  the  spiritual  waits 
upon  the  development  of  the  material.  The  cantata 
is  even  highly  interesting  on  account  of  its  immaturities. 
Metaphorically  speaking,  the  limbs  do  not  move  freely. 
The  introductory  sinfonia,  founded  on  the  subject  of 
the  succeeding  chorus,  is  rather  heavy,  styleless,  limited 
in  scope,  and  even — in  its  mechanical  five-part  har- 
mony— academic:  The  chorus  begins  well,  but  it  only 
goes  on  a  little  way  and  breaks  off  into  different  ma- 
terial.   The  bass  solo  is  lacking  in  variety  and  force 


56  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

of  progression.  Similar  defects,  which  arise  from 
uncertainty  in  the  composer's  mind  as  to  what  to  do  at 
particular  moments,  are  conspicuous  in  other  move- 
ments, perhaps  most  noticeably  in  the  last  chorus, 
which,  though  in  many  respects  very  fine,  is  spoilt  by 
the  inability  of  the  composer  to  get  away  from  the  key 
of  G  minor  and  a  limited  and  rather  conventional 
range  of  attendant  harmonies.  Exception  may  be 
made  of  the  superb  close  of  the  chorus,  which  is  sug- 
gestive of  the  third  ecclesiastical  mode,  and  keeps 
company  with  the  many  hundred  instances  in  which 
Bach  reserved  one  of  his  fmest  strokes  for  the 
conclusion. 

One  other  characteristic  feature  cannot  be  passed 
over,  which  is  a  conspicuous  early  example  of  the  de- 
vice of  realistic  suggestion,  such  as  he  could  hardly  ever 
resist,  and  which  was  indeed  in  the  main  a  symbol  of  the 
extreme  vivacity  of  his  mind.  In  the  first  chorus  the 
composer  several  times  conveys  the  suggestion  of  broken 
utterance  to  the  word  "flehen'*  by  alternate  rests  and 
short  groups  of  notes  on  the  same  syllable,  as  follows: 
'0       ^^      pp  f  p.* 


^J^-^&-^^ 


M-]^- 


.^^__^.,Ljd=^ 


«^«- 


Fle    7^,-;,^,. hen! 


Before  Bach  had  been  quite  a  year  at  Miihlhausen 
he  evidently  received  information  that  the  court  organ- 
istship  at  Weimar  was  vacant.  He  had  already  had 
some  little  connection  with  the  V/eimar  court,  and 
there  could  hardly  be  any  question  as  to  its  being  a 
better  post  than  the  organistship  of  Miihlhausen;  he 
accordingly  offered  himself  for  it  and  received  the  ap- 
pointment.    The  letter  he  addressed  to  the  council  at 


Preliminaries  57 

Muhlhausen  notifying  them  of  the  fact  is  fortunately 
still  extant,  and  is  one  of  the  very  rare  relics  which  shed 
some  dim  light  on  his  personality  apart  from  his  music. 
It  is  a  lengthy  document,  a  little  involved,  as  was  the 
way  with  such  literary  efforts  in  those  days,  especially 
when  the  writer  had  a  good  deal  in  his  mind.  The  most 
interesting  part  of  it  is  the  passage  relating  to  his 
reasons  for  leaving  Miihlhausen,  where  he  says: 

While  I  have  always  kept  one  end  in  view,  namely, 
with  all  good-will  to  conduct  well  regulated  church  music  to 
the  honour  of  God  and  in  agreement  with  your  desires,  et  cet., 
et  cet.,  still  this  has  not  been  done  without  difficulty,  and 
as  at  this  time  there  is  not  the  slightest  appearance  that 
things  will  be  altered.  ...  I  have  humbly  to  submit  that, 
modest  as  is  my  way  of  life,  with  the  payment  of  house  rent 
and  indispensable  articles  of  consumption,  I  can  only  live  with 
difficulty.  Now  God  has  so  ordered  it  that  a  change  has 
unexpectedly  come  into  my  hands,  in  which  I  foresee  the 
attainment  of  a  more  sufficient  substance,  and  the  pursuit  of 
my  aims  as  regards  the  due  ordering  of  church  music  without 
vexat^ion  from  others,  since  His  Royal  and  Serene  Highness 
of  Saxe-Weimar  has  graciously  offered  me  the  entree  to  his 
Hof  Capelle  and  Chamber  Music. 

In  view  of  this  offer  I  hereby,  with  obedience  and 
respect,  report  it  to  my  most  gracious  patrons,  and  at 
the  same  time  would  ask  them  to  take  my  small  services  to 
the  church  up  to  this  time  into  favourable  consideration,  and 
to  grant  me  the  benefit  of  providing  me  with  a  good  "di- 
mission."  If  I  can  in  any  way  further  contribute  to  the  service 
of  your  church,  I  will  prove  myself  better  in  deed  than  in  word 
so  long  as  life  shall  endure. 

The  laconic  consistency  of  barrenness  of  evidence 
leaves  the  world  in  ignorance  of  any  further  information 
with  regard  to  his  post  at  Muhlhausen,  and  the  next 
act,  and  that  a  very  important  one,  finds  him  installed 
at  Weimar. 


CHAPTER  III 

WEIMAR 

The  development  of  Bach's  artistic  personality  was 
the  result  of  rnany  diverse  influences,  and  among  them 
may  frankly  be  acknowledged  to  have  been  the  personal 
tastes  and  dispositions  of  some  of  the  lesser  German 
potentates  with  whom  he  came  into  contact.  Though 
in  later  times  the  hereditary  principle  has  been  a  good 
deal  criticised,  it  is  futile  to  ignore  that  in  the  past  it 
has  produced  rulers  and  leaders  of  men  who  have 
exercised  far-reaching  influence  for  good.  In  the  his- 
tory of  German  music,  the  German  aristocracy  and 
men  of  royal  blood  have  played  honourable  and  dis- 
tinguished parts;  and  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that 
without  the  material  help  and  enlightened  sympathy 
which  some  of  the  greatest  composers,  such  as  Haydn, 
Beethoven,  and  Wagner,  received  from  them,  it  is  un- 
likely that  many  of  their  greatest  compositions  would 
ever  have  been  written. 

In  Bach's  case  the  influence  was  mainly  indirect. 
He  was  influenced  by  the  circumstances  in  which  he 
found  himself  because  he  always  adopted  the  sensible 
course  of  making  the  best  available  use  of  his  oppor- 
tunities. On  several  occasions  the  circumstances  were 
the  fruit  of  the  tastes  and  temperaments  of  hereditary 

58 


Weimar  59 

magnates.  Among  these  Duke  William  of  Saxc-Weimar, 
whose  service  he  entered  when  he  left  Mijhlhausen, 
deserves  honourable  recognition.  Duke  William  was 
a  man  of  earnest  and  clearly  defined  character.  He 
had  little  care  for  the  frivolities  of  courtly  life,  but 
preferred  a  well-regulated,  orderly  existence  devoted 
to  the  well-being,  moral  and  physical,  of  his  subjects. 
Though  his  tastes  lay  strongly  in  an  ecclesiastical 
direction,  leading  him  to  take  pleasure  in  the  company 
of  clergy  and  in  having  them  much  about  his  court,  his 
devotion  seems  to  have  been  genuine  and  deep-seated. 

As  far  as  German  Protestantism  was  concerned,  he 
belonged  to  the  group  which  was  distinguished  tech- 
nically as  being  Orthodox,  among  whose  objects  it 
was  to  maintain  the  ancient  musical  traditions  of  the 
Church,  as  distinguished  from  the  Pietists,  to  whom 
anything  in  the  shape  of  artistic  accessories  and  appeals 
to  the  poetic  imagination  was  abhorrent.  So  in  this 
respect  John  Sebastian  was  sure  of  a  field  for  the 
exercise  of  his  powers. 

There  were  also  other  men  of  culture  and  ability 
in  Weimar  with  whom  Bach  could  maintain  friendly 
relations,  such  as  Walther,  the  organist  of  the  town 
church  (who  is  known  to  posterity  for  his  Miisik 
Lexicon  and  some  admirable  compositions,  especially 
Chorale-Preludes) ;  Drese,  the  Capellmeister,  and  Kiese- 
wetter,  the  head  of  the  gymnasium.  It  was  also  an 
advantage  to  him  that  there  was  a  court  band,  which 
performed  the  best  secular  music  of  the  time,  and  in 
which  he  could  exercise  his  powers  both  as  a  violinist 
and  a  clavier  player.  But  it  must  be  said  that  this 
branch  of  music  took  a  second  place  in  the  court  of 
Duke  William,  since  his  mind  vvas  so  much  engrossed 


6o  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

by  the  interests  of  religion.  Hence  the  greater  part 
of  Bach's  compositions  during  his  time  at  Weimar 
consisted  of  organ  music  and  church  cantatas. 

The  organ  in  the  chapel  of  the  Schloss  appears  to 
have  been  of  nearly  the  same  size  as  the  organ  he  had  at 
his  disposal  at  Arnstadt.  It  had  two  manuals,  with 
eight  speaking  stops  apiece,  a  carillon,  and  a  very 
substantial  pedal  organ  of  seven  stops,  one  being  of 
thirty-two-foot  calibre,  three  of  sixteen,  and  two  of 
eight;  which  must  have  supplied  a  grandly  substantial 
bass  such  as  his  heart  delighted  in.  For  this  organ  he 
soon  began  to  WTite  works  which  have  been  the  joy  and 
the  wonder  of  discerning  musicians  till  the  present  day. 

It  must  be  said,  however,  that  the  establishment  of 
chronology  is  more  difficult  in  connection  with  his  organ 
works  than  with  any  others.  It  is  quite  impossible 
to  decide  the  dates  of  some  of  his  fmest  and  best  known 
compositions;  and  the  evidence  for  allotting  certain 
others  to  certain  periods  is  more  subtle  than  conclusive. 
But  nevertheless  the  intrinsic  evidence  of  the  quality 
of  the  compositions  themselves  is  of  some  little  service; 
and  judging  from  that  evidence  and  what  little  there 
is  of  more  tangible  kinds  it  seems  as  though  Bach  passed 
through  three  phases  in  the  complete  establishment  of 
his  personality.  The  first  phase  presents  the  condition 
of  the  performer,  and  is  illustrated  by  works  which  were, 
likely  enough,  written  at  Arnstadt,  to  serve  as  pieces 
for  himself  to  play.  They  contain  the  germs  of  many 
devices  which  he  afterwards  developed  to  stupendous 
proportions.  One  of  his  favourite  effects  of  form  is  the 
contrast  of  brilliant  bravura  passages  and  passages  of 
great  weight  and  solidity — a  scheme  which  is  profusely 
illustrated  in  music  before  Bach's  time,  as  in  the  Toe- 


Weimar  6i 

catas  of  Merulo  and  Pachelbel.  Of  this  type  there  is  a 
charmingly  naif  example  in  a  Fantasia  in  G  i  in  three 
well-marked  divisions,  which  was  most  likely  written  at 
Arnstadt. 


The  actual  material  of  the  bravura  passages  is  not 
very  characteristic  (so  far  as  it  is  Bach),  but  the  linea- 
ments are  recognisable.  The  slow  portion  in  the 
middle  is  very  severe  and  simple  in  style,  but  the 
five-part  writing  has  a  very  rich  and  noble  effect,  and 
the  splendid  sound  of  the  big  suspensions  suggests  to  the 
mind  that  Bach  was  becoming  aware  of  the  aptness  of 
the  organ  for  such  purposes  and  was  trying  his  youthful 
hand  at  an  artistic  way  of  introducing  them.  The 
final  portion  is  a  kind  of  cadenza,  in  which  a  rather 
obvious  series  of  chords  is  presented  in  a  brilliant  figure 
of  demisemiquavers. 

Another  work  which  is  obviously  of  a  very  early 
date  is  a  singular  group  of  four  movements  in  C  major, 2 
beginning  with  a  Prelude 

n 


presenting  the  same  device  as  the  before-mentioned 
fantasia,  bravura  passages  alternating  with  fine  suc- 
cessions of  harmonies  followed  by  a  Fugue  with  a  very 
long  and  rather  monotonous  subject  in  f  time  with 
close  in  C — a  bravura  passage,  which  as  a  matter  of 

>  Peters   T.  V.  I.  8^^  2  Peters  T.  V.  I.  826. 


62  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

fact  is  a  kind  of  cadenza,  and  a  second  Fugue,  in  j 
time.  The  figures  of  the  bravura  passages  are  all 
rather  mild  and  commonplace,  especially  in  the  cadenza, 
and  both  fugues,  but  especially  the  second,  are  wanting 
in  decisiveness  of  personality.  An  attractive  isolated 
Prelude  in  A  minori  may  also  be  referred  to  the 
Arnstadt  time. 

These  works  have  all  the  tokens  of  being  the  produc- 
tions of  a  performer  who  wanted  to  supply  himself  with 
something  to  perform,  and  the  element  of  virtuosity  is 
very  prominent.  This  quality  arrives  at  a  very  high 
pitch  of  perfection  in  some  of  the  works  which  may  be 
safely  referred  to  the  early  part  of  the  Weimar  period. 
The  earliest  Weimar  works  were  probably  a  Prelude 
and  Fugue  in  C  2  and  a  similar  group  in  G  major.  ^  The 
former  is  of  quite  a  showy  character.  The  Prelude  sets 
off  with  a  pedal  passage  which  suggests  drums — and 
the  style  in  general  is  rather  Italian,  in  the  simplicity 
of  its  harmonies.  There  are  several  experiments  in 
bravura  effect  which  are  the  germs  of  later  and 
more  perfect  devices.  The  Fugue,  on  a  persistent 
semiquaver  subject, 


is  also  extremely  lively,  full  of  interesting  premonitions 
of  what  is  to  come  after.  The  Prelude  and  Fugue  in 
G  major  is  also  very  animated,  but  weightier  than  any 
of  the  preceding  pieces.  The  Fugue  affords  an  illustra- 
tion of  Bach's  faculty  for  making  his  concluding  pas- 

1  Peters  T.  V.  I.  859.     '  Peters  T.  V.  I.  840. 
'  Peters  T.  V.  I.  838. 


Weimar  63 

sages  impressive,  for  the  abounding  energy  of  the  last 
few  bars  bears  the  seal  of  the  most  absolute  mastery 
of  organ  eflfect.  But  still  the  presentment  of  his 
personality  is  not  entirely  convincing.  The  next  work, 
however,  which  probably  was  the  familiar  Prelude 
and  Fugue  in  D  major,  1  shows  the  composer  at  a 
very  high  pitch  of  mastery.  The  Prelude  has  much 
more  solidity  than  any  of  the  previous  works  of  the 
kind,  and  more  variety,  and  the  Fugue 


is  the  delight  of  all  organists  who  lay  claim  to  virtu- 
osity; since  it  is  not  only  superb  music,  but  one  of  the 
most  dazzling  movements  of  its  kind  in  existence;  and 
affords  the  performer  special  opportunity  to  delight 
his  auditors  by  the  long  cadenza  for  the  pedals  at 
the  end,  which  rises  by  an  apt  expansion  of  the  semi- 
quaver subject  through  the  whole  compass  of  the  pedal 
scale,  rushing  into  the  incisive  closing  chords  with 
jubilant  and  exhilarating  confidence.  The  Fugue, 
moreover,  is  interesting  historically,  in  consequence 
of  the  resemblance  of  the  subject  to  one  by  Buxtehude 
in  F,  and  in  many  points  of  artistic  treatment  as  well. 
It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that  though  Buxtehude's 
conception  is  a  stroke  of  genius,  John  Sebastian's 
work  is  so  much  wider  in  its  scope  and  so  infinitely 
richer  in  resource  and  interest  that  the  suggestion  of 
plagiarism  falls  disarmed.  It  can  hardly  be  said 
whether  John  Sebastian  had  Buxtehude's  Fugue  in  his 
mind,  or  whether  it  was  the  development  of  the 
unconscious  revival  of  an  old  impression.  If  it  was 
»  Peters  T.  V.  I.  842. 


64  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

deliberate,  it  was  quite  in  conformity  with  his  practice, 
which  was  to  copy,  rearrange,  and  amplify  works  by 
men  who  excelled  in  special  departments  of  art,  not 
with  the  view  of  passing  off  other  men's  work  as  his  own, 
but  to  get  as  closely  as  possible  into  touch  with  their 
special  artistic  aptitudes,  and  to  find  a  way  to  fill  up 
their  inaptitudes  and  improve  upon  their  most  skilful 
strokes  of  art.  It  was,  indeed,  only  putting  in 
practice  personally  the  principles  on  which  all  art 
progresses.  Plagiarism  is  mainly  vicious  when  a  man 
tries  to  pass  off  as  his  own  something  by  someone  else 
which  is  better  than  anything  he  could  do  himself. 
In  Bach's  case  the  object  was  not  to  foist  other  men's 
better  work  upon  the  public  as  his  own,  but  to  find  out 
how  to  do  better  than  the  most  skilful  composers  in  the 
lines  in  which  they  specially  excelled. 

There  is  another  work  which  also  shows  the  influence 
of  Buxtehude  and  an  immense  advance  in  intrinsic  in 
terest  of  detail,  and  even  of  actual  effect,  which  was  prob- 
ably produced  in  the  early  Weimar  period.  The  well 
known  Toccata  and  Fugue  in  D  minor^  is  indeed  one  of  the 
most  effective  of  his  works  in  every  way  and  indicates 
considerable  rapidity  in  the  composer's  development. 
The  Toccata  is  brilliantly  rhapsodical,  even  dramatic 
in  the  intensity  of  its  w^eird  contrasts  of  rushing  semi- 
quaver passages  and  overwhelming  masses  of  powerful 
harmony.  There  is  a  great  deal  more  invention  in  the 
actual  manner  in  which  the  passages  are  presented  and 
more  intrinsic  interest  in  the  material.     The  Fugue 


'  Peters  T.  V.  I.  845 


Weimar  65 

is  based  on  a  rolling  subject,  most  apt  for  the 
pedals,  and  is  developed  with  a  fine  sense  of  con- 
sistency and  power,  ending  with  a  coda  in  which  the 
resources  of  the  organ  for  presenting  magnificent 
successions  of  chords  and  pouring  out  a  majestic 
volume  of  sustained  tone  are  put  to  the  highest 
uses.  As  a  matter  of  fact  it  would  be  hard  to  find 
a  concluding  passage  more  imposing  or  more  abso- 
lutely adapted  to  the  requirements  of  the  instrument 
than  this  coda.  The  work  might  be  taken  as  the 
culmination  of  Bach's  first  phase.  Between  this  and 
the  second  phase  a  little  work  of  very  serious  char- 
acter, and  almost  unique  among  Bach's  organ  works, 
presents  itself.  This  is  a  short  Prelude  and  Fugue  in 
E  minor,^  which  is  exceptionally  distinguished  by  an 
atmosphere  of  sadness.  The  Prelude  is  not  brilliant, 
though  it  has  passages  of  the  bravura  type.  It  is 
solemn  and  dignified  and  weighty.  The  Fugue,  of 
quite  simple  character,  maintains  the  mood  and,  in 
spite  of  its  limited  proportions  is  at  once  interesting 
and  impressive. 

It  is  possible  that  a  change  which  came  about  in  the 
course  of  Bach's  stay  at  Weimar  was  owing  partly 
to  his  studies  of  other  great  organists'  works.  As  at 
all  times,  he  subjected  the  works  of  other  composers 
to  the  most  careful  scrutiny,  copying  them  out  and 
even  re-writing  them.  It  must  often  have  struck 
him  that  other  composers  had  not  got  nearly  so 
much  out  of  their  subjects  and  cues  of  development 
as  he  could,  and  then  he  set  to  work  to  remedy 
the  defects.  Acting  on  such  a  principle  he  wrote 
fugues   on    subjects   by  both    Legrenzi^    and   Coreili, 

1  Peters  T.  V.  I.  836.  ^  Peters  T.  V.  I.  849. 


66  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

and  reconstructed  and  arnplified  at  least  two  fugues 
by  Albinoni.  At  other  times  he  deliberately  set 
to  work  to  write  works  in  the  same  style  as  great 
masters  of  earlier  date.  He  was  evidently  an  ad- 
mirer of  the  Roman  organist  Frescobaldi,  and  pos- 
sessed a  copy  of  his  Fiore  Musicali,  which  had  been 
printed  as  long  before  his  day  as  1635,  in  which  he 
inscribed  his  name  and  the  date  of  its  coming  into 
his  possession  —  "J.  S.  Bach,  1714."  Frescobaldi 
was  greatest  of  all  the  Italian  organists,  and  John 
Sebastian,  to  widen  his  mastery  of  resource,  wrote 
several  works  in  imitation  of  his  style,  without 
entirely  succeeding  in  keeping  out  his  own.  As  an 
example  may  be  quoted  a  Canzona  in  D  minor  1  in 
Frescobaldi's  style,  very  severe  and  simple,  and 
dispensing  with  all  the  adjuncts  of  brilliant  effect 
which  are  so  prominent  in  works  of  his  first  phase. 
This  may  have  been  one  of  the  sources  of  the  changed 
aspect  of  the  works  which  represent  the  second  phase 
of  Bach's  development  in  organ  music.  They  are  all 
distinguished  by  great  solidity  and  dignity.  Even 
the  energetic  portions  of  the  preludes,  which  have 
the  same  function  as  the  bravura  passages  in  the 
earlier  works,  are  much  more  substantial  and  repre- 
sent more  definite  musical  ideas,  while  the  fugues  are 
almost  invariably  written  on  subjects  in  slow  notes, 
and  are  developed  with  more  concentration  of  ma- 
terial. Of  this  kind  is  the  Prelude  and  Fugue  in 
F  minor,2  of  which  the  Prelude  presents  a  new  and 
weighty  type  of  which  he  afterwards  availed  himself 
frequently,  and  the  Fugue  is  slow-moving  and  digni- 
fied.     There    is    also    a    Prelude    and    Fugue    in    G 

1  Peters  T.  V.  L  853.  2  Peters  T.  V.  I.  801. 


Weimar 


67 


minor,!  of  which  the  Prelude  is  massive  and  very 
decisive  in  form,  suggesting  the  influence  of  the  Italian 
Concerto.  It  is  much  more  mature  than  the  Fugue, 
which,  in  spite  of  a  fme  subject,  is  weak  and  monotonous 
in  parts.  This  also  betrays  Italian  influence,  but  was 
probably  written  before  the  Prelude.  A  Prelude  and 
Fugue  in  C  major  2  also  belong  to  this  group.  A 
Toccata  and  Fugue  in  D  minor  ^  present  some  suggestive 
features.  The  Toccata  is  not  so  interesting  as  the  earlier 
one  in  the  same  key.  A  form  which  depends  so  much 
upon  a  rhapsodical  quality,  like  a  brilliant  improvisa- 
tion, does  not  gain  by  too  thoughtful  and  premeditated 
an  air.  The  Fugue  (known  as  that  'Tn  modo  Dorico") 
is  a  very  noble  piece  of  work  in  a  distinctly  melancholy 
vein,  which  is  notable  as  presenting  a  trait  in  common 
with  the  last  fugue  of  the  first  series  of  the  '' Wohltem- 
perirtes  Clavier,"  as  the  greater  part  of  the  interest 
of  the  movement  is  based  on  an  afterthought. 


i 


.i 


:i^=?; 


Developing  into  the  following  at  the  end. 


1  Peters  T.  V.  I.  802. 

2  Peters  T.  V.  I.  792. 


3  Peters  T.  V.  I.  818. 


68  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

One  more  fugue  evidently  belongs  to  this  category,  and 
that  is  the  slow-moving  Fugue  ^  which  is  so  strangely 
mated  with  the  colossal  Toccata  in  F.  The  Fugue  is 
reserved  and  quiet  and  in  the  same  style  as  the  v/orks 
above  described  as  representing  his  second  phase.  The 
Toccata  with  its  immense  development,  its  spacious 
cadenzas,  and  its  dignity  of  nianner  must  have  been 
written  later.  It  v/as,  indeed,  by  com. pounding  the 
essential  qualities  w^hich  are  manifested  in  the  two 
phases  above  described  that  Bach  arrived  at  such  su- 
preme triumphs  as  the  Fantasia  and  Fugue  in  G  minor, 
the  Prelude  and  Fugue  in  A  minor  and  this  Toccata  in 
F  which  so  fully  represent  his  personality  in  organ  music. 
In  these  he  revived  all  the  elements  of  brilliant  effect 
which  were  manifested  in  the  earliest  phase,  but  infused 
the  works  throughout  with  the  elements  of  dignity  and 
solidity  which  he  had  presented  in  the  works  of  his  sec- 
ond phase.  There  is  one  little  bit  of  evidence  referring 
to  the  great  Fugue  in  G  minor,2  which  is  that  Mattheson 
(Handel's  friend  and  a  very  valuable  writer  on  musical 
questions  of  his  time)  quoted  in  his  General-B ass-Schule 
a  slightly  altered  version  of  the  subject  of  that  fugue, 
and  also  the  countersubject,  as  having  been  given  to 
candidates  at  an  organ  test  to  work  out  extemporane- 
ously, not  mentioning  Bach's  name  but  indicating  that 
the  subjects  were  well  known.  From  which  it  is 
inferred  that  the  Fugue  in  question  must  have  been 
written  before  1720;  which,  at  all  events,  was  before 
the  Leipzig  time.  If  this  is  so,  it  seems  to  follow 
almost  as  a  matter  of  necessity  that  the  brilliant  Fugue 
in  A  minor  ^  was  also  written  before  the  Leipzig  time, 

»  Peters  T.  V.  I.  817.  3  Peters  T.  V.  I.  807. 

2  Peters  T.  V.  I.  799. 


Weimar  69 

since  they  belong  essentially  to  the  same  phase  of  his 
development — the  phase  in  which  solidity  and  bril- 
liancy are  completely  co-ordinated,  and  the  enthusiasm 
of  youth  is  still  manifested  in  the  very  exuberance  of 
delight  in  the  fullest  consciousness  of  vitality.  The 
two  fugues  stand  out  pre-eminently  from  all  works  of 
the  kind  through  the  vivacity  of  their  rhythmic 
qualities,  the  definiteness  of  their  subjects,  and  the 
spaciousness  of  their  development,  which  make  them 
the  most  permanently  enjoyable  organ  fugues  in 
existence. 

There  is  no  external  evidence  to  define  the  periods 
when  the  Fantasia  in  G  minor  and  the  Prelude  in  A 
minor  and  the  great  Toccata  in  F  Were  Written.  It  is 
possible  that  the  Prelude  in  A  minor  was  written 
earliest.  It  bears  tokens  of  the  type  which,  as  has  been 
said,  was  influenced  by  the  instinct  of  the  performer. 
But  on  the  other  hand  it  is  carried  out  with  such  extra- 
ordinary knowledge  of  what  to  do,  and  there  is  such  a 
decided  atmosphere  about  it — created  by  the  chrom-atic 
successions  and  the  strange  gloom  of  the  early  part, 
which  is  confined  to  a  low  part  of  the  scale — that  it 
must  represent  a  mature  condition  of  faculties.  It  may 
not  be  so  full  of  matter  as  the  G  minor  Fantasia,  but 
what  has  to  be  done  is  done  in  masterly  fashion.  A 
passage  3  and  4  bars  from  the  end  suggests  connection 
with  the  great  Passacaglia.  The  Toccata  in  F^  seems 
necessarily  to  have  been  a  work  of  this  period  on  the 
grounds  of  the  amplitude,  consistency,  and  solidity  of 
its  development,  the  splendour  of  its  final  climax  and 
a  certain  exuberance  in  the  bravura  passages.  The 
Fantasia  in  G  minor  is  one  of  the  very  greatest  and 

1  Peters  T.  V.  I.  8i6. 


70  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

richest  manifestations  of  his  genius.  Its  richness, 
indeed,  and  the  extrerne  daring  of  the  progressions 
point  to  its  belonging  to  the  rniddle  period  of  Bach's 
life — either  quite  at  the  end  of  his  Weimar  period  or 
while  he  was  at  Cothen.  Here  indeed  are  all  the 
elements  of  bravura,  the  weightiest  and  most  surpris- 
ing progressions  of  harmony,  of  variety,  of  volume  of 
tone,  of  every  phase  of  contrast  of  feeling  and  charac- 
ter, all  infused  with  the  fullest  interest  of  detail.  It 
is  at  once  majestic  and  full  of  feeling,  and  at  the  same 
time  manifests  that  sense  of  spontaneity  which  makes 
it  almost  like  an  improvisation.  It  would  almost  seem 
as  if  the  last  word  in  organ  music  had  been  said.  But 
Bach  had  yet  in  his  later  days  to  resume  such  compo- 
sitions, and  consideration  of  the  works  of  that  period 
must  be  deferred  till  the  intervening  phases  of  his 
development  have  been  discussed. 

Passing  to  other  branches  of  art  similar  lines  of 
development  are  revealed.  His  clavier  music  under- 
went much  the  same  kind  of  transformation  as  his  organ 
music — with  the  difference  that,  under  circumstances 
which  have  been  described,  his  first  clavier  work  of 
any  dimensions  was  so  exceptionally  interesting.  In 
turning  to  a  fresh  branch  of  art,  the  general  prin- 
ciple may  be  serviceably  indicated,  that  differentiation 
of  style  proceeds  in  proportion  to  the  development  of 
individuality.  In  works  which  are  comparatively 
colourless  the  style  of  clavier  music  does  not  differ 
much  from  organ  music.  It  follows  that  when  clavier 
Works  present  an  identity  of  form  with  organ  works, 
and  lack  conspicuous  differentiation  of  style,  the  in- 
ference is  that  they  are  early  works.  For  such  reasons 
It  is  safe  to  infer  that  a  small  group  of  toccatas  were 


Weimar  71 

among  Bach's  earliest  ventures  in  clavier  music.  On 
the  basis  of  style,  the  Toccata  in  D  minor  would  come 
first.  It  is  an  agreeable  work,  but — with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  wonderful  slow  passage  in  the  middle — quite 
commonplace  in  detail,  and  even  mildly  Italian  in 
style.  It  is  this  which  gives  it  the  feeling  of  being 
like  Handel.  It  is,  in  fact,  like  many  other  composers 
and  therefore  essentially  unlike  the  true  J.  S.  Bach; 
and  the  remarkable  passage  in  the  middle,  where  all  of 
.a  sudden  he  was  momentarily  inspired  to  reveal  his  real 
self  puts  all  the  rest  of  the  work  out  of  countenance. ^ 
Bach  was  here  trying  to  transfer  an  organ  form  to  the 
clavier  in  terms  of  the  Italian  style;  and  from  intrinsic 
qualities  it  is  evident  that  after  his  fashion  he  pursued 
a  course  which  ministered  at  once  to  self-development 
and  artistic  achievement.  The  Toccatas  in  E  minor 
and  G  minor  were  probably  written  in  the  Weimar 
time  and  in  connection  with  that  in  D  minor.  The 
steps  of  progress  are  quite  clear.  In  both  these  later 
toccatas  the  complacent  Italian  style  falls  into  the 
background  and  fades  away.  The  details  become 
more  individual  by  degrees — a  little  more  so  in  that 
in  E  minor,  and  a  good  deal  in  that  in  G  minor. 
A  growth  of  strength  and  decisiveness  is  perceptible, 
the  scope  of  development  in  the  G  minor  being  much 
greater  than  in  the  earlier  work;  and  so  step  by  step 
the  process  of  development  can  be  watched.  The  fact 
that  all  the  toccatas  are  on  the  same  scheme  of  de- 
sign makes  this  group  of  works  specially  illuminative, 
as  they  throw  much  light  on  Bach's  unconscious 
methods    of    self-development,    which    in    this    case 

1  This  passage  is  a  development  of  the  idea  of  pleading  in 
the  Capriccio  to  his  brother,  John  Jacob  (p.  42). 


72  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

ultimately  led  to  such  splendid  achievements  as  the 
Toccatas  in  F^  minor  and  C  minor  (see  p.  508). 

A  work  which  belongs  to  this  period  and  illustrates 
the  same  phase  of  development  is  a  very  simple  series 
of  variations  in  A  minor  in  the  Italian  style.  The 
theme  is  singularly  plaintive  in  expression  and  ex- 
quisitely finished  in  detail  and  form — quite  a  singular 
piece  of  spontaneous  beauty,  the  evident  product  of 
poetic  youth.  The  variations  are  commonplace,  even 
dull.  The  work  was  an  experim.ent,  and  Bach  did  not 
fmd  the  result  worth  following  up  or  attempting  to 
mend.  He  was  indeed  trying  experiments  and  eagerly 
examining  all  manner  of  artistic  regions,  to  enhance 
his  powers  of  expressing  himself.  He  took  several 
movements  from  two  of  the  sonatas  for  two  violins, 
viola,  and  bass  in  Rein  ken's  Hortiis  Musiciis  then  re- 
cently published  in  Hamburg,  and  rev/rote  and  recon- 
structed them  for  the  clavier — filling  the  bald  places 
with  life,  and  beautifying  them  with  subtleties  of 
texture,  mending  the  weak  progressions,  adding  parts 
to  the  fugues,  and  amplifying  themi  into  movements  of 
im.posing  proportions.  The  results,  as  shown  in  the 
two  Sonatas  in  A  minor  and  C  major  (Peters  T.  V.  1. 
97  to  107),  are  worth  very  careful  comparison  with 
the  originals. 

Yet  again  it  must  have  been  about  this  time  that 
he  took  in  hand  Vivaldi's  concertos,  and  arranged 
a  large  number  of  them  for  the  clavier.  Vivaldi 
was  a  contemporary  of  Corelli,  but  ditlered  from  him 
in  that  his  brilliancy  was  in  excess  of  his  solidity 
and  musical  inventiveness.  Corelli  represented  a  dig- 
nified tradition  still  bearing  the  traces  of  the  old  solid 
choral    style;   Vivaldi    represented    the    tendency   of 


Weimar  73 

Italian  art  towards  harmonic  forrns,  such  as  were 
met  with  in  ItaHan  opera,  in  which,  so  far,  simple 
clearness  of  design  and  superficial  effectiveness  were 
the  principal  virtues.  He  was  essentially  a  violinist, 
and  at  times,  especially  in  slow  movements  when 
the  aptness  of  the  violin  for  expressive  melody  invited 
him,  he  wrote  really  beautiful  music.  In  quick 
movements  he  showed  facility,  glibness,  and  a  certain 
mastery  of  technique,  but  his  ideas  in  such  move- 
ments were  little  more  than  poses.  But  he  had  a  great 
reputation  as  a  representative  of  Italian  instrumental 
art,  and  it  was  possibly  on  that  ground  that  Bach  sub- 
jected his  works  to  the  close  study  Vv'hich  arranging 
them  for  the  clavier  implied.  Many  of  the  original 
scores  have  been  lost  sight  of,  so  it  is  not  possible  in 
such  cases  to  say  how  much  Bach  added.  Even  in 
his  versions  they  are  for  the  most  part  dull  and  bald, 
v.'hich  is  sufficient  to  show  that  not  much  alteration 
had  been  made.  But  in  some  cases  he  evidently  satis- 
fied himself  by  making  details  more  interesting,  by 
filling  in  emptinesses  with  additional  parts,  and  by 
adding  touches  here  and  there  which  gave  life  and 
vigour  to  the  somewhat  inert  complacency  of  the 
original. 

Bach  made  a  good  many  experiments  in  the  Italian 
style  at  one  time  or  another,  and  though  he  enriched 
it  out  of  the  wealth  of  his  own  personality  the  works 
in  which  that  style  prevails  are,  with  some  few  excep- 
tions, of  less  intimate  interest  than  his  other  works. 
The  advantage  he  gained  by  such  practice  was  that  he 
assimilated  with  his  own  resources  such  points  of 
Italian  procedure  as  were  capable  of  making  his  range 
of  art  more  complete   and   comprehensive.     And,  as 


74  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

will  be  seen  later,  he  adopted  much  the  same  course 
with  French  music,  and  often  made  use  of  the  form 
known  as  the  French  overture — a  type  which  had 
been  employed  by  Cambert  and  Lulli,  and  was  very 
generally  adopted  later  by  Handel  in  his  operas  and 
oratorios,  and  by  countless  other  composers  up  to 
Spohr  and  Mendelssohn. 

His  opportunities  at  Weimar  led  to  his  resuming  the 
composition  of  church  cantatas,  and  some  of  the  noblest 
and  most  poetic  of  his  works  of  the  kind  belong  to  this 
period.  Among  the  earliest  must  certainly  be  placed 
the  cantata,  Nach  dir,  Herr,  verlanget  mich,  which  is 
interesting  for  at  least  three  conspicuous  reasons. 
It  forms  more  or  less  of  a  link  between  his  early  works 
of  the  type  of  Tunder  and  Buxtehude  and  his  maturer 
cantatas,  leaning,  if  anything,  rather  in  their  direction. 
It  is  also  interesting  because  it  contains  some  in- 
choate types  of  thoroughly  Bachish  strokes  of  art, 
which  in  their  completer  manifestations  were  almost 
exclusively  his  property.  And  thirdly  it  is  interesting 
tOi  the  deficiencies  which  (as  in  the  Miihlhausen  canta- 
tas) remind  the  observer  of  the  gradual  growth  of  his 
musical  personality.  It  was  not  only  that  he  by  slow 
degrees  attained  the  full  power  of  development  which 
is  shown  in  such  amazing  proportions  in  many  of  the 
first  choruses  of  his  latest  cantatas,  but  that,  like 
Beethoven,  he  only  found  the  full  expression  of  himself 
in  his  fmest  thematic  material  comparatively  late. 
Occasionally,  when  he  was  deeply  moved,  a  wonderful 
musical  thought  makes  its  appearance;  but  for  the 
most  part  the  earlier  works  manifest  the  gradual  transi- 
tion from  the  semi-conventional  to  the  absolutely 
characteristic. 


Weimar  75 

As  this  is  contrary  to  the  commonly  accepted  view 
of  composers'  inspirations,  it  may  be  well  to  point  out 
that  there  are  two  types.  The  kind  of  composer  whose 
impulse  comes  from  purely  musical  gift  is  likely  to  pro- 
duce all  his  most  attractive  subjects  and  tunes  when  he 
is  young;  but  the  composer  who  combines  musical 
gift  with  a  great  temperament  and  a  great  personality 
keenly  alive  to  things  external  to  music  itself,  only  by 
degrees  hammers  out  of  himself  the  fullest  and  most 
unalloyed  expression  of  his  personality  in  his  musical 
ideas — and  of  this  order  Beethoven,  Bach,  and  Wagner 
are  the  most  conspicuous  examples. 

The  cantata  under  consideration  has  some  superb 
strokes  in  it  which  show  the  composer's  growth  of 
grasp,  such  as  the  opening  passage  of  the  first  chorus, 
but  his  personality  does  not  shine  out  with  uni- 
form consistency.  The  one  aria  for  soprano  is  very 
short  and  the  level  of  its  intrinsic  interest  is  compara- 
tively low.  Two  of  the  choruses  are  broken  up  into 
short,  distinct  episodes  with  but  little  inherent 
musical  continuity.  On  the  other  hand,  the  com- 
poser's enterprise  is  shown  in  the  adoption  and  man- 
agement of  the  chaconne-form  in  the  final  chorus, 
and  in  the  superb  passage  which  concludes  the  last 
chorus  but  one,  Meine  Aiigen  sehen  stets,  {u  den  Herrn. 
And  incidentally  it  may  be  mentioned  as  a  curiosity 
that  the  cantata  comprises  a  very  notable  solo  part  for 
the  bassoon,  and  (as  a  subtle  indication  of  its  exact 
date)  a  very  peculiar  device  of  interlacing  parts  which 
lie  so  close  in  the  scale  as  practically  to  overlap,  which 
also  occurs  in  the  introductory  Sonatina  in  the  work 
next  to  be  mentioned. 

It  may  seem  strange  that  very  near  the  time  when 


-f  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

the  above  cantata  was  wr-::r"  :    :  :   :i_:ri  :   t 

mtifidafiil  cantata  GoiUs  Z  rr  ■  -  m  Znz,  one 

of  tbeeariiestcf  B::-  5  :~     :     -:? 

taken  a  in^y  deez  ^  :    t:        :           _ 

This  cantata  is  in  r  :-  -      -  :         :r-  ::-- 

tatas,  and  so  nioc  ~        _  -       r  :    :-;t    '  :  :_:t 

which  is  manifes::     -    :  :    ::    :     r    ;-      r    ::- 

tional  considt  :      -  t      ~ :-      -      :          -     : 

was  written  ii  :          :  ^_:   :  :tv1  :     :    r    :::  :    ::  ::    s 
essentiaDy  Te_     '  :  r.  :     :  "       :    :~;    :      r        ~        t 

eaitierca-   :::  :     :      r  v-s 

in  whidi          :   :  :               -           ^ : 

imi^nite        ~  :  :                        ::  7     - 

ness  and   :  r       r  :      -    :  :- 

wt>rk    is    a^-aj^i  -7-.,:.       :.. :     -;     ^-t 

nature  that  is   r:     r    :      :  1 

than  with   the   ~/j.t--:  :             5 

of  this    type   are   often    r  t    7^:     :     ^j    ::-.    :-7 

most  perfect   examples   c:'  :'t    i-t       ::::.::.    :-.  1 
formal   art.     G:tiis  Z-y:    ■:~i--\z'.'.z    :    r    rr-_:-r    _-- 

aDojed    Teutonic    J :    •     ^  -  -         -     : ::' :  -r     -7       : 5 

impdled  by  the  iinive: :    .  - :  - :  : : : t: :  : :  7  - :  -- 

mal  n^nlations  ctf  the  i  l  _  777-1 

and  poetic  intentioo  ir:-  :      - 

tfaioogh   not   bdng   ::  :  7     :    :                     :  :      7? 

erf  exposition  and  re:::    _  :    -           :      :  7   7      - 

impeisonal,  and  th ^  ^  :    7t      :: 

a  man  with  socr  _  : 

deal  with  : —  -  :  :  7  7  '         : :  -    7    ' 

The  su:  7:^  -;■   -    :    ^   :  •  ::;■  5.7.  _  :: 

cokmr.     '  :    '  7f:"_r^7   :: 

exists-     T              7           ^  :     r    :                    i" 
elanoit  c:  r::^:::-c:-  .:  '.:.t  c/r.::-;:  c-^:  _:.7^  :-ezn 


Weimar  77 

in  the  bright  part  of  their  scale,  which  he  does  not. 
He  never  allows  them  to  pass  out  of  the  low  region 
which  gives  the  strangest  tone  in  the  orchestra — a 
tone  which  is  a  mere  shadow,  inanimate,  almost  in- 
capable of  expressive  increase  or  decrease;  which  would 
be  repellent  for  its  very  intractableness  if  it  had  not 
(especially  in  the  few  lowest  notes)  an  uncanny  sug- 
gestion of  sombreness.  Flutes  have  been  associated 
with  death  from  time  immemorial,  and,  as  a  rule,  the 
association  seems  perverse  and  exasperating.  But 
used  in  the  way  Bach  uses  them,  no  instruments  could 
be  more  suggestive.  The  only  other  instruments 
which  supply  character  and  colour  are  two  viole  da 
gamba,  instruments  which  have  passed  out  of  use  since 
Bach's  time,  and  can  only  now  be  occasionally  heard 
at  archaeological  functions.  The  instrument  may 
fairly  be  described  as  an  inadequate  violoncello.  It 
was  of  the  same  shape,  though  smaller,  and  having 
a  flat  back  it  lacked  all  the  sonority  of  the  more 
modem  instrument  in  every  part  of  the  scale.  It 
had  neither  the  warmth  and  fulness  of  the  lower 
string,  nor  the  vibrating,  soul-melting  intensity  of 
the  upper  part  of  the  scale,  which  makes  the  'cello 
the  instrumental  counterpart  of  the  impassioned 
tenor  among  vocalists.  The  quality  of  tone  was 
sometimes  made  more  interesting  by  having  sym- 
pathetic strings  under  the  essential  strings,  as  in 
a  viola  d'amore;  but  it  seems  hardly  likely  that  this 
was  the  instrument  Bach  meant  to  be  used.  Rather 
must  it  be  assumed  that  it  was  an  ordinary  "gamba" 
with  a  tone  more  akin  to  the  viola,  though  not  so 
cadaverous — a  tone  which  is  capable  of  a  great  deal 
of  gradation  and  of  expression,  which  in  this  case  was 


78  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

exactly  what  the  composer  wanted,  but  neither  too 
familiar  (for  men  seem  to  lose  their  respect  even  for 
death,  when  it  becomes  too  familiar),  nor  too  warm  and 
bright  as  violins  would  have  been.  To  these  flutes,  re- 
presenting cold  inflexibility,  and  the  gambas,  represent- 
ing the  pathos  and  the  shadowiness  of  death,  nothing 
is  added  but  the  colourless  *'continuo" — meaning 
basses  and  organ  bass,  with  figures  to  indicate  what 
chords  would  be  wanted  to  fill  in  the  harmonies. 

The  scheme  is  Teutonic  in  its  drawbacks  as  well  as 
in  its  advantages.  Its  limitations  made  it  liable  to 
monotony,  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  risk  is 
not  relieved  by  the  Teutonic  habit  of  dwelling  per- 
sistently upon  any  idea  which  takes  possession  of  the 
soul.  This  persistence  is  illustrated  frequently  by 
the  constancy  with  which  Bach  uses  the  characteristic 
figure  of  an  accompaniment,  without  break  or  change 
from  beginning  to  end  of  a  movement.  Such  a 
proceeding  is  quite  consonant  with  the  Teutonic 
disposition,  which  enjoys  absorption  in  a  symbol,  a 
figure,  a  thought,  even  a  detail  of  mental  construction, 
and  does  not  ask  for  the  nervous  centre  to  be  relieved 
so  soon  as  beings  of  Southern  races.  Slow  and  weighty 
in  movement,  the  actions  of  Teutons  persist  longer, 
while  representatives  of  other  races,  effecting  what 
they  aim  at  by  violent  explosions  of  temperamental 
force,  absolutely  require  relief  by  contrast  of  some  sort 
after  the  concentrated  expenditure  of  energy. 

To  those  who  cannot  get  into  touch  with  an  attitude 
so  patiently  reflective,  the  singular  colour  of  this  work, 
through  being  unrelieved,  becomes  monotonous.  Won- 
derful as  the  conception  is,  it  lacks,  as  far  as  the  average 
mind  is  concerned,  the  very  essentials    which   make 


Weimar  79 

the  intention  fully  effective,  because  there  is  no  con- 
trasting alternative  whereby  the  effect  may  be  gauged. 
The  earnestness  of  the  intention  is  emphasised  by  the 
absence  of  the  relief  of  any  high  strings  or  higher 
instruments — for  the  flutes  are  here  used  as  low 
instruments — but  the  purely  artistic  effect  is  hindered. 

On  passing  from  colour  to  form  the  same  Teutonic 
spirit  is  visible.  The  aria  types  of  solo  had  not  yet 
fully  taken  possession,  and  the  scheme  still  bears  the 
traces  of  the  earlier  Teutonic  efforts,  which  were  dic- 
tated rather  by  depth  of  earnest  intention  than  by 
perception  of  beauty  of  effect  or  design.  The  solos 
bear  the  traces  of  the  traditions  of  Schlitz,  Hammer- 
schmidt,  Tunder,  and  Buxtehude,  enormously  widened, 
deepened,  expanded,  but  still  showing  the  kinship,  and 
a  certain  artistic  crudity,  which,  to  a  mind  fully  in 
sympathy  with  the  poetic  intention,  is  even  attractive. 
The  crudities,  such  as  they  are,  are  saved  from  becoming 
painful  by  the  attitude  of  mind.  It  is  not  the  terrors 
of  death  which  are  dealt  with,  but  the  mystery  of  it; 
not  the  tragic  side  or  the  despair,  but  the  consolation 
which  the  devout  Christian  of  that  time  found  in  a 
personal  love  of  Christ  and  a  confident  belief  that  His 
promises  of  comfort  were  sure  of  fulfilment. 

Thus  the  opening  sonatina  for  the  flutes,  gamba,  and 
bass  is  pathetic  and  tender.  It  suggests  no  terrors, 
but  breathes  only  of  loving  regret.  The  first  chorus  is 
broken  up  into  short  distinct  sections,  beginning  with 
the  simple  enunciation  of  the  words  ''God's  time  is  the 
best  time,"  and  treating  each  thought  and  sentiment 
that  succeeds  with  subtle  appropriateness  of  musical 
expression ;  and  so  also  with  solo  passages  v/hich  succeed 
it.    The  sentiment,  "It  is  the  ancient  law,  man,  thou 


8o  Johann  Sebastian  Rach 

must  die!  "  is  given  to  the  three  lower  voices  of  the 
chorus  in  a  fugal  manner  expressing  something  of  the 
sternness  of  fatahty,  but  it  is  answered  by  the  sopranos 
offering  the  suggestion  of  consolation  in  the  words, 
"Yea,  come,  Lord  Jesu."  The  close  of  the  chorus  is 
one  of  the  most  wonderful  examples  of  the  vividness  of 
Bach's  musical  perception  of  things  external  to  music. 
The  lower  voices  continue  to  reiterate  the  gloomy 
words,  "Man,  thou  must  die!"  while  the  trebles  refer 
to  the  other  aspect  of  death,  as  the  door  through 
which  the  personal  communing  with  the  Saviour,  the 
Beloved  of  the  Soul,  is  to  be  attained.  The  pathetic 
utterance  of  the  word  "sterben"  by  the  lower  voices 
breaks  otT  abruptly,  while  trebles,  as  it  were  lloating  in 
a  higher  region,  keep  the  niind  occupied  with  the  idea 
of  the  coming  of  "the  Lord  Jesus"  by  the  use  of  a 
strangely  beautiful  melismatic  passage,  which  seems 
hardly  to  end  at  all  but  merely  to  dissolve  into  space. 
There  can  hardly  be  any  more  suggesti\-e  use  of  the 
melismatic  device  in  all  music!     (.See  page  8i.) 

The  duet  for  alto  and  bass  which  follows  is  also  one 
of  the  marvels  of  Bach's  devotional  genius.  The  alto 
has  an  exquisite  series  of  phrases,  to  the  words  /;/  dt'Die 
Hiinde  hejehV  ich  lutinen  Gcisi,  and  after  considerable 
development  of  the  m^usical  presentation  of  the  senti- 
ment, the  bass  voice  gives  the  answer  which  the  de- 
vout Christian  cherishes  as  his  hope,  Heuie  u-irst  dii  mii 
mir  im  P'aradies — to  which  the  alto  responds  vTth  the 
long-drawn  mielody  of  the  chorale,.!///  Fried'  und  Freud' 
ich  fah/  dahin.  The  combination  of  the  slow  notes  in 
their  steadfast  firmness  of  gait  with  the  flowing  figures 
of  the  accompanying  gambas  and  the  free  melodic  pas- 
sages of  the  bass  voice  makes  a  subjective  suggestion 


Weimar  Si 

of  the  finn  confidence  oi  the  soul  in  the  promise  of 
Christ;  and  the  movement  doses  fitly  vvith  the  touching 
and  trastful  wofds,  D^  Tod  ist  wLtin  Scblaf  wonUn. 


i 


9 


X'iC^      i.     i.'  :     ^  ^-■r-r      »  OidS. 


! 


c-?-H-^t — ■ — ■ — -^ — • ^^ — =^-?- 


1— 4r 


if!! 


■jr — JET 


In  the  spiritoai  sense  the  connection  of  the  sdieme 
with  soch  eaili^  Gennan  works  as  Hammerschmidi's 
Dialogius  bdwetn  God  amd  Use  Saul  is  e\ident,  as 
is  also  the  technical  connection  with  the  beautiful 
art-^orm  of  the  choraHantasie,  by  which  the  effect  of 


82  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

the  firm  slow  church  tune  with  diversely  moving  pas- 
sages in  other  parts  was  most  probably  suggested. 
The  last  movement  begins  with  a  chorale,  but  not  after 
the  manner  of  the  later  cantatas,  in  which  the  chorale 
is  presented  in  a  simple  concrete  form,  but  with 
elaboration  of  figurate  accompaniment  such  as  enhances 
the  artistic  and  expressive  interest;  and  it  passes  after 
a  manner  practised  by  earlier  German  composers,  into 
a  fugal  movement,  giving  the  last  words  of  the  hymn 
Diirch  Jesiim  Christum  with  the  "Amen  '  in  rich  and 
elaborate  polyphony;  rounding  off  and  expressing 
finally  the  affirmation  that  is  embodied  in  the  opening 
words,  Goties  Zeit  ist  die  allerbeste  Zeit 

Bach's  attitude  towards  the  church  cantata  was 
destined  to  undergo  considerable  changes,  under  the  in- 
fluence of  men  of  poetic  gift  and  temperament  who  were 
much  interested  in  the  literary  side  of  the  art-form,  and 
also  of  his  own  careful  study  and  observation  of  Italian 
art.  The  change  indeed  is  so  significant  and  suggestive 
that  it  needs  to  be  considered  a  little  in  detail. 

He  certainly  knew  a  great  deal  about  Italian  art  even 
before  he  settled  in  Weimar.  It  would  have  been  im- 
possible for  him  to  avoid  it ;  for  however  much  German 
music  had  been  spiritually  distinguished  from  Italian 
music  and  identified  by  its  racial  characteristics,  the 
greater  natural  miusical  aptitude  of  Italians  made  it  in- 
evitable that  in  things  which  were  specially  art-regard- 
ant the  Germans  had  to  look  to  the  Italians  for  guidance 
and  for  types  of  procedure.  Thus  Heinrich  Schtitz  had 
brought  back  to  Germany  the  semi-Netherlandish  Vene- 
tian tradition  which  he  gathered  under  the  inspiring 
guidance  of  Giovanni  Gabrieli.  So,  later  in  the  century, 
Hammerschmidt,  Ahle  and  Tunder,  had  imitated  the 


J  ■ 


-J.    • 


u 


— r 


1  Mlf 


«:. 


^'^ 

^^>" 


:::lO- 


t 


!*• 


i 


ra 


0^ 


Weimar  83 

treatment  of  soli,  and  borrowed  types  of  artistic  proced- 
ure from  the  Italian  art  of  their  time,  which  was  not  so 
noble  as  the  earlier  art  of  the  Venetians;  and  again, 
later,  even  John  Michael  and  John  Christoph  Bach  and 
Buxtehude  had  been  most  deeply  influenced  by  the  Ital- 
ian art  of  their  time.  Italian  art  was  progressing  step 
by  step, and  German  art  in  its  own  line  was  keeping  pace 
with  it.  But  so  far  the  models  to  which  the  German 
composers  had  confined  themselves  had  been  mainly 
in  the  department  of  sacred  or  ecclesiastical  music 
to  which  they  gave  the  best  of  their  own  attention. 
But  the  peculiarity  of  the  situation  Was  that  this  was  not 
the  department  in  which  I  talians  of  the  century  excelled. 
Indeed  the  kind  of  church  music  to  which  Italians 
were  now  more  and  more  devoting  their  really  produc- 
tive energies  was  an  imitation  of  the  new  kind  of  secular 
music.  So  the  Germans  who  were  following  the  lines 
of  Italian  composers  of  sacred  music  were  by  degrees 
drifting  into  the  position  of  being  imitators  of  imitations. 
It  was  principally  in  opera  and  secular  instrumental 
music  that  the  Italians  were  making  artistic  strides. 
Their  instinct  for  beauty  of  form  had  driven  them  to 
abandon  the  path  which  Monteverde  had  indicated,  and 
to  solve  the  problem  of  organisation  before  they  faced 
the  problems  of  expression.  This,  quite  as  much  as 
the  levity  of  taste  of  the  operatic  audiences,  had  brought 
about  their  over-profuse  cultivation  of  the  aria  form. 
When  the  type  had  been  established,  composers  were  too 
easily  content  with  merely  producing  variations  upon  it. 
But  the  assiduity  with  which  they  cultivated  it  tended 
to  explore  its  possibilities  to  the  utmost,  and  to  show  in 
what  a  variety  of  guises  it  could  be  presented.  And  this 
aria  type,  though  devised  for  secular  purposes,  was 


84  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

applicable  to  sacred  music.  That  is,  it  was  serviceable 
as  a  principle  with  certain  important  changes  of  atti- 
tude. The  attitude  of  the  old  sacred  choral  music  of  the 
Roman  Church  had  been  impersonal.  The  individual 
was  merged  in  the  devotional  exercise  of  the  many. 
The  music  was  performed  by  many  voices  in  combina- 
tion. Individuality  did  not  enter  into  it.  But  with 
Protestantism  a  much  more  personal  note  was  struck. 
The  individual  man  realised  with  fervour  his  personal 
relation  with  God  or  with  Christ,  and  this  soon  became 
a  characteristic  feature  of  German  sacred  music.  The 
love  of  dialogues  between  God  and  the  soul,  so  fre- 
quently referred  to,  illustrates  this  point,  and  it  is  felt  all 
the  more  when  the  spirit  in  which  they  Were  carried  out 
is  examined.  The  intimacy  of  communion  between  the 
individual  man  and  a  Divine  being  was  a  new  and  most 
attractive  phase  of  religion  to  the  devoutly  minded;  and 
nowhere  is  it  more  conspicuously  illustrated  than  in  the 
work  of  John  Sebastian;  and  it  was  by  adopting  in 
sacred  music  principles  which  the  Italian  composers  had 
evolved  for  solo  music,  both  in  the  form  of  the  aria  and 
the  recitative,  that  he  found  a  more  convincingly  artistic 
solution  of  the  requirements  of  this  branch  of  art. 

But  for  the  achievement  of  this  end  it  was  necessary 
that  the  poet  should  lead  the  way.  For,  without  poetry 
written  in  the  form  which  admitted  of  treatment  in 
the  Italian  types  of  solo  music,  the  composer  was  help- 
less. It  so  happened  that  the  subject  of  the  form  of 
poems  for  church  music  occupied  a  good  deal  of  the 
attention  of  religious-minded  men,  and  just  opportunely 
there  came  to  Bach's  hands  sundry  poems  for  church 
cantatas  by  Erdmann  Neumeister,  a  native  of  Vechtritz 
near  Weissenfels,  which  had  been  written  for  church 


Weimar  85 

use  early  in  the  century.  And  the  fortuitous  con- 
currence of  circumstances  thus  caused  him,  about  the 
year  17 14,  to  take  a  new  line  in  the  scheme  of  his  church 
cantatas,  in  which  the  solo  element  from  this  time  for- 
ward becomes  so  much  more  definite  in  form.  This  is 
illustrated  very  strongly  by  the  cantata  Ich  weiss,  dass 
mein  Erloser  leht,  which  is  confidently  attributed  to  this 
time ;  for  the  cantata  is  written  entirely  for  a  tenor  voice, 
and  consists  of  three  arias,  two  of  which  are  in  the  regu- 
lar da  capo  form,  with  two  interstitial  recitatives.  The 
form  of  the  work  is  precisely  the  same  as  the  familiar 
"cantata  a  voce  sola"  of  which  the  Italian  composers  of 
the  latter  part  of  the  previous  century  and  the  early 
years  of  the  eighteenth  had  given  countless  illustrations. 
But  Bach  rightly  adopted  the  principle  only,  and  es- 
caped the  common  mistake  of  imitating  the  manner  as 
well  as  the  method.  The  music  is  as  much  his  own  in 
its  dignity  and  exact  observance  of  verbal  meaning  as 
his  earlier  and  more  purely  Teutonic  work.  Apart  from 
the  emphatic  way  in  which  it  illustrates  the  adoption  of 
the  Italian  type  both  of  the  aria  and  the  form  of  the 
whole  work,  the  cantata  is  not  musically  very  interesting. 
Another  setting  of  words  by  Neumeister  of  this  time 
is  Uns  ist  ein  Kind  gehoren,  which  is  more  interesting 
for  what  it  suggests  than  for  what  it  accomplishes. 
It  was  written  for  Christmas  Day,  and  Bach  evidently 
meant  it  to  have  a  very  direct  and  festal  character. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  it  is  strangely  commonplace  and 
bald,  and  the  traces  of  conventional  types  of  figuration 
and  scheme  are  everywhere  manifest.  It  begins  with 
a  concerto  of  matter-of-fact  and  burly  character.  The 
first  chorus  is  fugal  but  has  little  distinction  or  point, 
and  another  chorus  farther  on  is  even  more  elementary 


86  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

and  bald.  There  are  a  few  undeveloped  airs  with  tune- 
ful passages,  and  the  final  chorale  is  accompanied 
throughout  by  a  violin  solo,  which  keeps  up  an  almost 
ceaseless  motion  of  semiquavers  in  purely  conventional 
and  commonplace  figures.  The  whole  work  serves  as 
an  excellent  example  of  the  elementary  standard  from 
which  Bach  developed  such  wonderful  results;  and  it 
presents  in  crude  forms  many  of  the  actual  conceptions 
which  he  expanded  into  more  artistic  conditions  later. 

Another  cantata  of  the  period,  which  was  set  to 
Neumeister's  words  and  which  has  many  very  attrac- 
tive features,  is  Gleich  wie  der  Regen.  It  begins 
with  a  delightful  and  characteristic  Sinfonia  in  which 
much  happy  use  is  made  of  the  effect  of  massed  strings; 
there  is  a  remarkable  movement  in  which  long  passages 
of  recitative  are  alternated  with  short  bursts  of  chorus, 
with  an  accompaniment  to  which  four  violas  and  two 
flutes  afford  special  colour;  and  the  soprano  solo  Mein 
Seelenschati  has  a  very  characteristic  accompaniment 
of  violas  and  flutes  playing  graceful  figures  in  octaves. 

Of  yet  greater  importance  is  the  remarkable  cantata 
written  to  Neumeister's  words,  Nmi  komm  ,  der  Heiden 
Heiland,  about  the  date  of  which  there  can  be  no 
possibility  of  mistake,  for  the  manuscript  (which  is  in 
the  Royal  Library  of  Berlin)  does  for  once  in  a  way 
bear  the  date  of  its  composition,  17 14,  written  on  it  in 
Bach's  own  hand;  and  as  it  was  written  for  the  first 
Sunday  in  Advent,  the  exact  day  of  its  first  perform- 
ance is  ascertainable  as  December  2d  of  that  year.  In 
this  case  we  have  the  proof  of  Bach's  cosmopolitanism 
in  the  adoption  of  artistic  methods  from  all  sources; 
for  not  only  does  it  contain  examples  of  the  Italian 
type  of  da  capo  aria,  but  the  first  chorus  is  a  very  inter- 


Weimar  87 

esting  and  effective  adaptation  to  new  conditions  of  the 
form  known  as  the  French  overture,  from  its  use  by 
Cambert  and  Lulli  and  the  imitators  of  the  latter 
composer.  Bach's  manner  of  adapting  the  form  is 
illustrative  of  the  happy  possibilities  of  such  transplan- 
tations. The  first  part,  as  in  a  regular  French  over- 
ture, consists  of  a  weighty,  broad,  and  energetic  slow 
movement;  and  Bach  even  adopted  the  characteristic 
trochaic  rhythm,  which  is  so  familiar  in  the  overture  to 
The  Messiah  and  many  of  the  other  overtures  of  Handel 
which  are  in  the  French  form.  Bach's  presentation  of 
the  type  is  naturally  much  more  highly  organised,  and 
richer  in  harmony  and  detail  than  the  works  which 
he  was,  in  principle,  imitating.  The  peculiarity  which 
gives  this  movement  special  significance  is  that  the 
voices  of  the  chorus  come  in  one  by  one  v/ith  the  slow- 
moving  strains  of  the  chorale,  Ntm  komm  ,  der  Heiden 
Heiland,  which  stand  out  in  grand  independence  from 
the  busy  and  complicated  network  of  the  instrumental 
music.  The  end  of  the  portion  representing  the  slow 
movement  of  the  French  overture  is  made  im.posing  and 
massive  by  combining  all  the  voices  together  in  the  last 
line  of  the  chorale,  while  the  instruments  minister  to  the 
general  vitality  by  continuing  their  own  independent 
forms  of  motion.  Then,  as  in  the  French  overture, 
follows  the  fugue,  in  which  the  voices  naturally  and 
rightly  take  the  lead.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  Bach  is 
so  faithful  to  his  models  that  he  makes  the  subject  ex- 
ceptionally short,  as  the  subjects  had  always  been  in 
Lulli's  works,  and  his  treatment  of  the  fugue  form,  as 
his  had  been,  is  exceptionally  free  and  unacademic. 

The  solo  music  is  worth  dwelling  on  as  illustrating 
the  personal  character  of   the  new   kind  of   sacred 


88 


Johann  Sebastian  Bach 


music.  The  first  aria,  which  is  developed  at  great 
length  in  cornplete  da  capo  form,  is  to  the  words 
Komrn  ,  Jesn,  komni  and  breathes  that  atmosphere 
of  personal  love  for  Christ,  which  is  one  of  the  most 
consistent  features  of  Bach's  solo  music.  This  is 
followed  by  a  very  remarkable  recitative  accom- 
panied by  strings  pizzicato  C'senza  I'arco,"  as  Bach 
has  it),  which  from  the  very  first  chord  (which  is 
a  shrewd  discord)  shows  both  the  composer's  bold- 
ness and  his  wonderful  power  of  conveying  the  most 
intimate  meaning  of  the  words,  and  of  fitting  the  music 
with  ideal  exactness  to  the  phraseology. 


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Weimar  89 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  form  of  the  accompaniment 
symbolises  the  persistent  knocking  at  the  door,  and  that 
the  voice  also,  at  the  word  ''  Klopfe,"  is  made  to  exe- 
cute a  group  of  notes  which  is  realistically  suggestive. 
Even  as  early  as  this  the  composer  shows  his  complete 
mastery  of  the  possibilities  of  elastic  recitative,  in 
which  melodic  passages  are  intermingled  freely  with  the 
purely  elocutionary  passages,  graduated  with  perfect 
instinct  for  the  particular  type  of  procedure  which  is 
best  calculated  to  convey  and  intensify  the  meaning  of 
the  words.  The  remaining  aria  is,  again,  in  the  da 
capo  form,  though  short,  and  again  it  breathes  the 
intimate  personal  note,  in  the  words  "Oeffne  dich  mein 
ganzes  Herze,"  beginning,  indeed,  with  the  same  phrase 
which  Brahms  used  in  a  well-known  song,  to  the  words, 
"Oeflfne  mir."  A  point  which  is  noticeable  in  the  final 
chorus  is  that  the  final  chorale  is  not  given  in  its  con- 
crete simplicity  as  in  most  of  the  later  cantatas,  but 
is  introduced  in  detail  in  single  parts  and  worked  up 
into  an  elaborate  fugal  movement. 

A  short  cantata,  Wer  mich  liehet,  which  Bach  wrote 
in  17 1 6  is  also  a  setting  of  verses  from  a  hymn  by 
Neumeister.  It  is  rather  unusual  in  form,  as  it  begins 
with  a  duet  for  soprano  and  bass,  and  has  a  chorale 
in  the  middle,  and  in  the  earliest  manuscript  extant 
ends  with  a  bass  aria — though  one  of  the  manuscript 
parts  indicates  that  a  chorale  was  to  follow.  The 
cantata  is  mainly  interesting  for  the  use  to  which 
Bach  put  it  nineteen  years  later;  when  having  to  write 
a  cantata  for  Whitsuntide,  possibly  in  a  hurry,  he 
turned  the  opening  duet  into  a  chorus,  making  the 
slightest  possible  alterations,  transposed  the  bass  solo, 
and  transferred  it  to  a  soprano,  and  adapted  it  to  dif- 


go  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

ferent  words,  and  added  some  masterly  arias,  one  tor 
alto  being  among  the  boldest  and  most  brilliant  he 
ever  wrote  for  that  voice,  with  some  remarkable  effects 
in  the  accomipaniment. 

A  more  remarkable  example  than  any  of  these,  which 
belongs  to  this  time,  is  the  cantata  I'ch  haUe  viel 
Bekummemiss,  which  is  probably  the  best  known  of 
all  Bach's  church  cantatas.  In  this  he  had  the  ad- 
vantage of  the  words  of  another  poet,  Salomo  Franck, 
a  native  of  Weimar,  which  were  eminently  calculated 
to  wake  a  s>"mpathetic  response  in  the  mind  of  the  com.- 
poscr.  The  cantata  is  on  an  exceptionally  large  scale 
with  an  introductory  sinfonia  and  many  choruses,  arias, 
and  recitatives.  It  is  not  necessary  to  discuss  the 
choruses  in  detail.  The  first  illustrates  Bach's  rugged 
daring  in  the  use  of  clashing  progressions,  and  the  last, 
in  which  three  trumpets  are  introduced  in  the  accom- 
paniment to  the  words  "  LoB  und  Ehre,"  is  in  his  most 
brilliant  and  ornate  manner,  presenting  examples  of 
the  phraseology  of  the  organ,  including  tv-pes  of  pas- 
sages w^hich  are  evidently  induced  by  the  habit  of  mind 
of  w^atching  for  formulas  w^hich  were  apt  for  the  pedals, 
and  w^hich,  fortunately,  were  effectively  presentable 
by  voices. 

The  solo  music  emphasises  as  prominently  as  ever 
the  gradual  acceptance  ot  Italian  methods  and  the 
intimate  personal  attitude  of  the  w^orshipper;  pre- 
senting a  more  complete  adaptation  of  the  former  to 
German  mood,  and  the  latter  in  even  richer  and  more 
deeply  expressive  passages.  The  solo,  Seuf^er,  TBranen, 
is  notable  for  the  characteristic  use  of  short,  broken 
phrases;  a  favourite  device  with  John  Sebastian,  and 
a  most  effectual  manner  of  representing  strong  feeling 


Weimar  91 

of  any  sort,  whether  of  joy  or  acute  sorrow.  The  aria 
is  not  in  complete  da  capo  form,  but  in  the  familiar 
modified  form  in  which  a  return  is  made  to  the  open- 
ing ritomello  to  make  the  close,  without  repeating 
all  the  first  part  of  the  vocal  solo.  The  aria  for 
tenor,  B'dche  ion  gesal^nen  Zdhren,  is  notable  also 
for  its  deeply  expressive  character,  for  the  richness 
of  its  instrumental  accompaniment,  for  the  extent 
of  its  development,  for  its  thoroughly  German 
character  in  matter  and  texture,  and  for  the  com- 
pleteness of  the  adaptation  of  the  Italian  principle  of 
the  da  capo.  The  type  is  thus  seen  to  be  completely 
assimilated  by  the  composer  without  making  any  con- 
cession in  the  direction  of  Italian  manner,  or  losing  a 
tittle  of  the  deep  sentiment  and  earnest  feeling  which 
were  building  up  tne  great  edifice  of  German  musical 
art.  The  two  duets  in  the  second  half  of  the  work  are 
also  notable  as  examples  of  that  favourite  form  with 
German  composers  and  poets,  the  dialogue.  They 
are  both  for  soprano  and  bass — the  first  is  nomin- 
ally in  recitative,  though  abounding  in  melodious 
phrases  and  the  kind  of  ornate  passages  to  u^ich  the 
comiposer  contrived  to  give  so  miuch  meaning;  and  the 
second  is  a  melodious  duet  for  the  same  voices  in  which 
the  Soul  begins,  "  Komm,  mein  Jesu,'*  and  the  bass, 
representing  Christ,  "J a,  ich  kbmme,"  the  dialogue 
being  carried  on  with  very  rapid  interchange  of  phrases, 
exactly  as  an  analogous  dialogue  might  have  been 
presented  on  the  Italian  operatic  stage,  but  with  very 
different  sentiment.  Thus  the  transference  of  an 
Itahan  artistic  device  is  seen  to  miinister  to  the  canying 
out  of  an  essentially  Teutonic,  or  at  least  Northern 
conception;  for  the  dialogue  form  had  been  just  as 


90  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

ferent  words,  and  added  some  masterly  arias,  one  for 
alto  bemg  among  the  boldest  and  most  brilliant  be 
ever  wrote  for  that  voice,  with  some  remarkable  effects 
m  the  accompaniment. 

A  more  remarkable  example  than  any  of  these,  which 
belongs    to    this  time,  is  the  cantata   Ich   hatU  viel 
Bekummermss,  which  is  probably  the  best   known  of 
all  Bach  s  church  cantatas.     In  this  he  had  the   ad- 
vantage of  the  words  of  another  poet,  Salomo  Franck 
a  native  of  Weimar,  which  were  eminently  calculated 
to  wake  a  sympathetic  response  in  the  mind  of  the  com- 
poser.    The  cantata  is  on  an  exceptionally  large  scale 
with  an  mtroductory  sinfonia  and  many  choruses  arias 
and    recitatives.     It   is  not  necessary  to  discuss  the 
choruses  in  detail.    The  first  illustrates  Bach's  rug<.ed 
darmg  in  the  use  of  clashing  progressions,  and  the  last 
in  which  three  trumpets  are  introduced  in  the  accom- 
paniment to  the  words  "Lobund  Ehre,"  is  in  his  most 
brilliant  and  ornate  manner,  presenting  examples  of 
the  phraseology  of  the  organ,  including  types  of  pas- 
sages which  are  evidently  induced  by  the  habit  of  mind 
ot  watching  for  formulas  which  Were  apt  for  the  pedals 
and  which,  fortunately,  were  effectively  presentable 
by  voices. 

The  solo  music  emphasises  as  prominently  as  ever 
the  gradual  acceptance  ot  Italian  methods  and  the 
intimate  personal  attitude  of  the  worshipper;  pre- 
senting a  more  complete  adaptation  of  the  former  to 
German  mood,  and  the  latter  in  even  richer  and  more 
deeply  expressive  passages.  The  solo,  Seuf^er,  ThrUnen 
is  notable  for  the  characteristic  use  of  short,  broken 
phrases;  a  favourite  device  with  John  Sebastian  and 
a  most  effectual  manner  of  representing  strong  feeling 


Weimar  91 

of  any  sort,  whether  of  joy  or  acute  sorrow.  The  aria 
is  not  in  complete  da  capo  form,  but  in  the  familiar 
modified  form  in  which  a  return  is  made  to  the  open- 
ing ritornello  to  make  the  close,  without  repeating 
all  the  first  part  of  the  vocal  solo.  The  aria  for 
tenor,  Bdche  von  gesal{'nen  Zdhrefi,  is  notable  also 
for  its  deeply  expressive  character,  for  the  richness 
of  its  instrumental  accompaniment,  for  the  extent 
of  its  development,  for  its  thoroughly  German 
character  in  matter  and  texture,  and  for  the  com- 
pleteness of  the  adaptation  of  the  Italian  principle  of 
the  da  capo.  The  type  is  thus  seen  to  be  completely 
assimilated  by  the  composer  without  making  any  con- 
cession in  the  direction  of  Italian  manner,  or  losing  a 
tittle  of  the  deep  sentiment  and  earnest  feeling  which 
were  building  up  the  great  edifice  of  German  musical 
art.  The  two  duets  in  the  second  half  of  the  work  are 
also  notable  as  examples  of  that  favourite  form  with 
German  composers  and  poets,  the  dialogue.  They 
are  both  for  soprano  and  bass — the  first  is  nomin- 
ally in  recitative,  though  abounding  in  melodious 
phrases  and  the  kind  of  ornate  passages  to  which  the 
composer  contrived  to  give  so  much  meaning;  and  the 
second  is  a  melodious  duet  for  the  same  voices  in  which 
the  Soul  begins,  "Komm,  mein  Jesu,"  and  the  bass, 
representing  Christ,  "Ja,  ich  komme,"  the  dialogue 
being  carried  on  with  very  rapid  interchange  of  phrases, 
exactly  as  an  analogous  dialogue  might  have  been 
presented  on  the  Italian  operatic  stage,  but  with  very 
different  sentiment.  Thus  the  transference  of  an 
Italian  artistic  device  is  seen  to  minister  to  the  carrying 
out  of  an  essentially  Teutonic,  or  at  least  Northern 
conception;  for  the  dialogue  form  had  been  just  as 


94  Johaiiii  bebastian  Bach 

examples  in  the  cantata  at  present  under  consider- 
ation. This  t^pe  of  quasi-ornament  is  not  drawn 
from  organ  music,  but  most  probably  from  early  Ger- 
man vocal  music,  or  even  from  folk  music,  and  finds  its 
counterpart  in  the  most  primitive  music  of  sa\age 
races,  so  deeply  is  it  rooted  in  the  human  mind.  But 
in  the  more  highly  developed  stages  of  art  it  implies  the 
dwelling  upon  a  significant  or  climacteric  word — the 
prolonging,  by  an  acutely  felt  melodic  passage,  of 
the  essential  points  of  a  sentence.  Bach  was  especially 
fond  of  introducing  such  passages  in  recitative,  and 
it  may  even  be  said  that  in  making  use  of  the  de\  ice 
he  sometimes  approached  to  formality;  for  when  he 
discovered  the  most  suitable  place  to  introduce  it 
as  part  of  the  artistic  organisation,  he  presented  it 
very  frequently  in  the  same  portion  of  the  move- 
ment. But  at  the  same  time  his  treatment  of  the 
matter  illustrates  in  a  subtle  manner  his  constant 
endeavour  to  make  everv'thing  minister  to  the  ex- 
pression, wherever  language  was  combined  with 
music,  and  wherever  the  essential  function  of  the 
music  is  to  convey  and  intensify  the  meaning  of  that 
language. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  of  the  cantatas  written 
at  Weimar,  and  of  very  diiTerent  character  from  the 
preceding,  is  IVaclei,  hetei,  a  work  of  very  large 
dimensions,  in  two  parts.  Unfortunately  it  is  only 
known  in  the  revised  form  which  Bach  ga\e  it  later, 
which  may  account  for  the  Italian  influences  being  a 
good  deal  in  evidence. 

In  considering  the  words.  Bach  was  evidently  more 
impressed  by  the  word  "wachet''  than  by  the  word 
"betet,"  as  the  first  chorus  is  in  a  ver\'  vivacious  and 


Weimar  95 


strenuous  mood,  ushered  in  by  a  trumpet  call,  which 
is  significantly  reiterated  at  inter\'als  throughout  the 


movement. 

Tkumpet. 


It  is  indeed  evident  tha:  r.t  ':.i.i  :r.e  Last  Judgment 
in  his  mind,  for  the  upward  rush  of  the  vocal  passages 
when  the  voices  join  in  is  symbolical  of  the  rising 
of  the  dead.  He  does  indeed  m.ake  contrasts  be- 
tween the  two  words,  but  there  is  very  little  of 
the  prayerful  mood!  The  form  of  the  chorus  is  sug- 
gestive: as  if  devised  for  the  aria  form,  but  giving 
only  a  hint  of  the  reiteration  of  the  opening  phrases 
when  the  piincipal  key  comes  back,  and  grafting  on 
a  grand  series  of  characteristic  progressions  to  make 
an  impressive  conclusion.  The  most  remarkable  solos 
in  the  work  are  both  for  bass  voice,  consisting  of  an 
acownpanied  recitative,  Erschreckei,  ihr  versiocklen 
ySnSer,  in  the  first  part,  and  a  ver}'  remarkable 
group  of  four  movements,  combined  for  purposes  of 
expression  and  contrast,  in  the  second  part.  The 
first  of  these  combined  movements  refers  to  the 
great  day  of  the  end  of  the  world,  the  sound  of 
the  trumpet,  the  voice  of  the  Judge,  the  terrors 
and  shuddering  of  the  sinful,  in  terms  whidi  are 
harsh,  crude,  and  vehement.  But  when  this  restless 
movement  comes  to  an  end,  a  short,  slow,  peace- 
ful aria  makes  the  most  profound  central  con- 
trast, referring  to  the  Seligsier  Erqiiickungsiag  in 
broad  and  gracious  phrases.  But  this  again  gives 
way  to  a  more  agitated  movement,  expressing  the 
wild    confusion    of    the    Earth    and    Heaven    being 


loo  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

documents  of  some  negotiations  with  the  authorities 
of  the  Liebfrauen  Kirche  at  Halle,  Handel's  Halle, 
for  the  post  of  organist  there,  which  was  vacant.  An 
exceptionally  large  organ  of  63  stops  was  being  built, 
and  Bach  appears  to  have  gone  there  to  play  on  it  in 
17 13.  He  offered  himself  for  the  appointment,  and 
even  went  to  the  length  of  acceding  to  the  invitation 
to  write  a  church  cantata,  and  conducting  it,  to  prove 
his  powers  in  that  direction  as  well  as  in  that  of  a  per- 
former, but  he  could  not  stay  till  the  matter  was  de- 
cided, as  his  duties  at  Weimar  demanded  his  return. 
But  he  then  wrote  to  one  of  the  principal  men  at  Halle 
on  January  14,  17 14,  explaining  some  little  point  with 
regard  to  his  salary  and  his  work  which  he  desired 
to  have  considered,  and,  unfortunately,  his  application 
was  not  favourably  received  and  the  matter  fell 
through — leaving  some  little  ill-feeling  behind.  The 
people  of  Halle  took  it  into  their  heads  that  he  had 
not  acted  quite  fairly  by  them,  which  caused  him  to 
write  another  letter  on  March  19th,  protesting  against 
the  interpretation  which  had  been  placed  upon  his 
conduct,  and  throwing  some  little  light  on  what  had 
taken  place.  This  appears  to  have  appeased  the 
authorities,  for  in  17 16,  when  the  great  organ  was 
finished,  he  was  invited  to  come  over  and  play  upon 
it,  and,  in  company  with  Johann  Kuhnau  of  Leipzig 
and  Rolle  of  Quedlinburg,  to  report  upon  it.  This 
was  accordingly  done;  and  the  report,  a  favourable 
one  to  the  organ  builder,  Cuncius,  was  duly  furnished. 
But  of  Bach's  performances  or  any  circumstances  of 
his  visit  no  record  remains  and  no  particulars  are 
ascertainable. 

He  is  known  to  have  gone  to  Cassel  by  invitation  of 


Weimar  loi 

the  Crown  Prince,  from  a  Latin  pamphlet  published  in 
1743  by  one  Constantine  Bellerman,  Rector  of  Minden, 
and  it  is  deduced  from  certain  historic  circumstances 
which  seem  to  prove  that  the  Crown  Prince  Frederick 
mentioned  in  the  pamphlet  was  absent  from  Cassel 
from  the  latter  part  of  17 14  till  1731,  that  the  visit 
must  have  taken  place  late  in  17 14.  The  visit  was 
signalised,  according  to  the  writer,  by  Bach's  having 
played  to  the  Crown  Prince,  and  so  stupefied  him  with 
astonishment  at  his  facility  in  pedal  playing  that  the 
Prince  took  a  jewelled  ring  from  his  own  finger  and 
gave  it  to  Bach. 

Of  another  journey  proof  is  supplied  by  some  notes 
he  had  made  on  his  copy  of  the  cantata  Nun  komni  , 
der  Heiden  Heiland,  before  referred  to.  They  are 
merely  particulars  of  the  musical  portion  of  a  service 
at  one  of  the  churches  in  Leipzig  where  the  cantata 
was  performed,  and  as  he  was  responsible  for  the  con- 
duct of  the  rest  of  the  music  on  the  occasion,  which  was 
rather  elaborate,  he  made  notes  of  what  he  had  to  do 
to  help  his  memory  and  make  sure  of  everything  being 
ready  and  in  order.  His  share,  as  so  recorded  in 
anticipation,  consisted  of  a  prelude  before  the  service, 
the  conducting  of  a  motet,  several  interludes,  a 
Choralvorspiel  or  two,  and  a  final  performance  such  as 
would  be  called  in  England  a  concluding  voluntary. 
Of  any  particulars  beyond  those  suggested  by  this  list, 
we  remain  in  ignorance.  It  is  only  to  be  inferred  that 
these  events  prove  the  growth  of  his  reputation  as  an 
organist  and  a  composer. 

One  of  the  most  familiar  episodes  in  his  life,  which 
is  vouched  for  with  sufficient  consistency  by  several 
chroniclers,  occurred  about  this  time,  and  points  to  his 


I02  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

great  reputation  as  a  clavier  player.  It  seems  that  he 
journeyed  to  Dresden  in  the  latter  part  of  17 17,  and 
that  J.  L.  Marchand,  the  French  composer  and  clavier 
player,  was  there  at  the  time.  Marchand's  reputation 
in  Paris  was  very  great,  and  it  is  evident  that  the 
amateurs  at  the  Dresden  Court  also  had  a  very  high 
opinion  of  him;  but  John  Sebastian's  powers  were  more 
or  less  known  by  this  time,  and  it  somehow  was  brought 
about  that  there  should  be  some  sort  of  an  artistic 
contest  between  them.  The  embellishments  of  the 
story  in  point  of  detail,  which  are  given  by  various 
narrators,  are  naturally  rather  the  outcome  of  a  desire 
to  make  it  effective  than  to  be  exact;  but  on  one  point 
at  least  they  most  of  them  concur,  which  was  that 
time  and  place  were  agreed  upon,  and  John  Sebastian 
was  ready,  but  not  Marchand,  who  had  taken  an  early 
departure  from  Dresden  that  very  day.  It  was  of 
course  assumed  that  he  had  gauged  the  powers  of  his 
antagonist,  and  had  foreseen  defeat,  and  fled;  and  that 
view  has  met  with  general  endorsement.  The  only 
points  really  worth  notice  are  that  Bach  had  by  this 
time  attained  supreme  pre-eminence  as  a  clavier  player 
as  well  as  an  organist,  and  that  the  zest  with  which  the 
chroniclers  report  the  story  implies  cordial  admiration. 
It  must  have  been  about  this  time,  towards  the  end 
of  17 17,  that  Bach  resigned  his  position  at  Weimar. 
But  little  is  known  of  the  circumstances,  and  even  the 
exact  dates  are  uncertain.  It  is  only  certain  that  at 
the  end  of  the  year  he  was  no  longer  in  the  service  of 
the  Duke  of  Saxe- Weimar  but  in  that  of  Prince  Leopold 
of  Anhalt-Cothen.  The  circumstances  were  destined 
to  lead  him  to  explore  new  artistic  fields.  While  at 
Weimar,  the  duties  of  his  office  and  the  opportunities 


Weimar  103 

it  afforded  him  had  caused  him  to  address  himself 
especially  to  the  composition  of  organ  music  and 
church  cantatas;  and  the  results  are  supremely 
interesting.  The  Weimar  cantatas  have  indeed  a 
special  quality  about  them — a  romantic  fervour  and 
sensitiveness  of  poetic  feeling  which  are  most  charac- 
teristic of  his  personality.  But  organ  music  was  the 
only  department  in  which  he  had  as  yet  attained  to 
the  fulness  of  his  powers.  He  was  one  of  the  com- 
posers who  grew  in  scope  and  resourcefulness  all  his  life 
long,  and  wonderful  and  delightful  as  the  best  of  the 
other  works  are,  they  are  surpassed  in  grandeur  and 
scope  by  works  of  the  same  order  which  he  produced 
later  in  life. 

By  the  time  Bach  left  Weimar  he  already  had  several 
children.  The  eldest  child  was  a  daughter  named 
Katharine  Dorothea,  born  in  1708,  probably  at  Miihl- 
hausen,  and  the  eldest  son,  V/ilhelm  Friedemann,  was 
born  during  the  Weimar  time,  in  1 7 1  o.  At  Weimar,  the 
best  known  of  his  sons,  Carl  Philip  Emmanuel,  was 
born  in  17 14,  and  also  Johann  Gottfried  Bernhard  in 
171 5.  No  traces  remain  of  the  story  of  the  domestic 
life  of  this  time,  and  speculation  and  surmises  are 
fruitless.  With  John  Sebastian  the  artistic  life  is  all 
in  all,  and  of  that  a  new  phase  was  opened  when  he 
transferred  his  allegiance  to  a  new  master. 


CHAPTER  IV 

COTHEN 

The  reasons  which  caused  Bach  to  give  up  a  post 
where  he  had  a  good  organ  at  his  disposal  and  ample 
resources  for  performance  of  choral  and  instrumental 
works  on  a  large  scale,  for  the  post  of  Kapellmeister 
in  a  small  court,  where  there  was  no  adequate  organ, 
no  adequate  choir,  and  not  even  a  theatre  to  draw  upon 
for  instrumentalists  and  singers,  must  have  appeared 
to  him  very  weighty,  but  there  is  very  little  to  show 
what  they  were.  The  immediate  impetus  to  leave 
Weimar  may  have  been  given  when  Duke  Wilhelm 
August,  his  master,  conferred  the  Kapellmeistership 
on  Johann  Wilhelm  Drese  when  his  father  died,  late 
in  17 1 6.  But  there  is  no  reason  to  think  that  the 
appointment  was  any  reflection  on  Bach.  The  family 
of  Drese  had  occupied  the  foremost  position  in  the 
musical  establishment  at  Weimar  for  more  than  half 
a  century;  and  as  the  Duke  is  reported  to  have  been 
very  loyal  to  his  dependants,  it  is  very  likely  that 
he  made  the  appointment  in  consideration  of  the 
long  service  of  the  Dreses,  rather  than  from  any 
lack  of  appreciation  of  Bach.  At  the  moment, 
possibly,  there  may  not  have  been  any  other  post 
available,  and  Bach's  disposition  being  impetuous  and 

104 


Cothen  105 

impatient,  he  would  no  doubt  see  any  change  that 
offered  in  a  favourable  light.  He  was  attracted  by 
what  he  knew  of  the  young  Prince  Leopold  of 
Anhalt-Cothen,  and  he  may  have  welcomed  the  idea 
of  being  a  Kapellmeister,  and  he  may  have  felt 
attracted  by  the  idea  of  occupying  himself  with  a 
different  kind  of  music  from  that  which  he  had  hither- 
to cultivated.  The  world  has  so  identified  him  with 
organ  music  that  it  seems  almost  incredible  that  he 
should  have  accepted  a  position  in  which  he  was 
almost  cut  off  from  it,  and  where  his  duties  would 
mainly  lie  in  a  department  of  music  which  at 
that  time  was  more  backward  than  any  other.  For 
indeed  secular  instrumental  music  was  but  just  begin- 
ning to  emerge  into  any  kind  of  definite  independent 
existence.  The  Italian  school  of  violinists  had  done 
something  ,  towards  establishing  the  style  of  violin 
music,  but  even  Corelli's  concerti  grossi  had  only  made 
their  appearance  about  five  years  before.  Clavier 
music  had  been  slumbering  till  but  a  few  years  before. 
Kuhnau  had  broken  new  ground  with  his  suites  and 
sonatas.  Froberger's  interesting  suites,  Couperin's 
elegant  "Ordres"  in  the  same  branch  of  art,  Muffat's 
"Florilegium,"  Purcell's  sonatas  for  strings,  Vivaldi's 
concertos,  and  Biber's  violin  sonatas  indicated  the 
direction  of  composers'  aspirations,  but  extremely  little 
had  been  done  in  which  inadequacy  of  some  sort  or 
another,  as  pure  instrumental  music,  is  not  apparent. 
It  is  conceivable  that  this  may  have  been  an  induce- 
ment, and  that  Bach  felt  that  an  opportunity  worthy 
of  him  was  to  be  found  in  this  hitherto  slenderly  culti- 
vated branch  of  art.  But  at  the  same  time  it  must  be 
admitted  that   Bach's  cultivation  of  secular  instru- 


io6  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

mental  music  may  have  been  caused  by  his  being  forced 
to  realise  the  inadequacy  of  all  existing  music  of  the 
kind  through  hearing  it  so  often  at  Cothen.  Which 
was  antecedent  and  which  consequent  in  this  case  is 
too  subtle  a  question  to  be  discussed  here;  and,  indeed, 
it  is  of  no  very  great  consequence.  The  essential  fact 
is  that  he  applied  himself  with  marvellous  energy  to 
make  the  best  use  of  the  special  opportunities  which 
Cothen  afforded  him. 

It  needs  to  be  kept  in  mind  that,  though  hereditary, 
local  and  national  influences  all  converged  to  impel 
him  to  concentrate  his  energies  on  sacred  music  and 
music  connected  with  the  church,  he  was  inevitably 
influenced  by  the  fact  that  the  greater  part  of  artistic 
method  since  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century 
had  been  developed  in  secular  branches  of  art.  Bach 
himself  had  already  adapted  secular  methods  and  form.s 
to  sacred  uses.  And  great  as  his  natural  musical  apti- 
tudes were,  there  can  hardly  be  any  doubt  that  a  frank 
and  uncompromising  cultivation  of  secular  music  for 
itself  was  a  necessary  preliminary  to  the  full  expansion 
and  attainment  of  his  artistic  personality.  When 
men  cultivate  any  branch  of  intellectual  activity  merely 
as  a  secondary  accessory,  while  the  main  energies  of 
their  minds  are  occupied  with  other  lines  of  thought, 
they  never  get  thoroughly  hold  of  the  essentials.  If 
Bach  had  continued  through  life  to  concentrate  his 
attention  on  church  music,  and  had  given  no  more  con- 
sideration to  secular  music  than  his  quick  perception 
needed  to  divine  the  methods  which  were  equally 
applicable  to  serious  art,  the  world  would  not  only  have 
been  the  poorer  for  the  lack  of  a  large  number  of 
secular  works  which  are  among  the  most  permanent 


Cothen  107 

delights  of  artistically  minded  people,  but  the  sacred 
works  which  he  produced  in  later  years,  which  are  the 
crown  of  a  life  unconsciously  devoted  to  self-develop- 
ment, would  have  been  shorn  of  a  great  part  of  their 
completeness. 

Thus,  whichever  way  it  is  considered,  the  Cothen 
period  is  one  of  pre-eminent  importance;  and  the  world 
owes  some  recognition  to  the  young  prince  whose  pecu- 
liar and  well-defmed  tastes  exercised  so  much  influence 
in  the  development  of  the  composite  sum-total  of  the 
artistic  personality  of  John  Sebastian. 

It  would  have  been  gratifying  to  human  curiosity, 
and  also  in  some  ways  historically  useful,  if  it  had 
been  possible  to  fix  the  exact  dates  of  production  of 
the  most  important  of  Bach's  secular  compositions. 
For  the  greater  part  of  them  the  world  has  to  be  satis- 
fied with  the  result  of  a  process  of  elimination.  It 
can  be  inferred  with  a  certain  amount  of  safety  that 
special  works  could  not  have  been  produced  either  in 
his  least  mature  or  most  mature  periods;  that  they 
have  traits  inconsistent  with  influences  which  are 
known  to  have  been  paramount  at  particular  periods, 
and  the  inference  so  attained  may  be  strengthened 
by  the  knowledge  of  those  influences.  In  this  manner 
most  of  the  great  secular  instrumental  works  can  be 
narrowed  down  to  the  Cothen  period.  But  it  was  not 
till  some  time  after  he  had  been  settled  in  Cothen  that 
his  productivity  in  this  new  line  of  art  can  be  safely 
referred  to.  In  the  earlier  years  he  was  probably 
assimilating  and  learning  from  practical  experience  of 
the  works  of  experts  in  several  din'erent  forms  of  secular 
instrumental  art  how  to  improve  upon  their  efforts 
and  show  the  utmost  that  could  be  done  in  the  various 


io8  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

lines  v/hich  were  cultivated  in  the  old  style  of  instru- 
mental counterpoint.  And  in  these  earlier  years  there 
are  a  few  incidents  which  require  to  be  enumerated. 

The  young  prince  seems  to  have  been  attached  to 
his  musicians,  and  when  he  went  away  from  home  he 
generally  took  a  few  of  them  with  him,  and  his  Kapell- 
mieister  was  of  course  included.  On  one  of  these  oc- 
casions they  went  to  Carlsbad  in  May,  1720;  and  when 
Bach  returned  he  found  his  domestic  circle  broken  up 
by  the  death  of  his  beloved  wife,  Maria  Barbara.  As 
has  been  before  observed,  nothing  is  known  of 
their  private  life  and  nothing  can  be  said  on  the 
subject.  The  Bachs  were  a  domestic  race,  and 
John  Sebastian's  noble  disposition  justifies  the  sur- 
mise that  he  suffered  from  what  must  be  the  severest 
blow  in  any  well  constituted  man's  experience.  But  it 
is  also  clear  that  he  was  not  overwhelmed,  and  found 
solace  in  his  work.  A  church  cantata,  IVer  sici  selhst 
erhohet  is  attributed  to  this  time.  It  begins  with  a 
fme  fugal  chorus  in  a  rather  conventional  contrapuntal 
style — not  presenting  Bach's  personality  very  forcibly 
except  in  its  skilful  development.  A  soprano  air  has 
an  elaborate  organ  part,  obligato.  A  fme  accompanied 
recitative  for  bass  is  highly  characteristic  of  his  inter- 
pretation of  such  grim  words  as  "  Der  Mensch  ist 
Koth,  Staub,  Asch'  und  Erde."  It  may  be  mentioned 
here  that  one  other  church  cantata,  Das  ist  je  gewiss- 
lich  wahr,  is  attributed  to  the  Cothen  time.  It  must 
be  admitted  to  be  rather  commonplace. 

In  the  latter  part  of  this  year  1720,  also,  another 
journey  to  Hamburg  is  recorded;  when  Bach  came  into 
contact  with  Johannes  Reinken,  the  ancient  organist 
of  St.   Katherine's  Church,  for  the  last  time.     His 


Cothen  109 

previous  journeys  there  had  been  the  pilgrimages  of  an 
ardent  student,  bent  on  penetrating  the  artistic  secrets 
of  the  famous  master;  he  now  went  as  the  full-fledged 
master  himself  and,  without  doubt,  far  greater  and 
more  efficient  than  the  man  whom  in  former  days  he 
had  reverently  subjected  to  close  observation.  There 
are  sufficient  proofs  that  he  still  respected  the  powers 
of  his  former  exemplar;  and  if  the  old  man  knew  little 
of  the  power  of  the  younger,  it  is  satisfactory  to  find  it 
credibly  recorded  that  he  availed  himself  honourably 
of  the  opportunity  to  inform  himself.  According  to 
Mizler — one  of  the  chroniclers — some  of  the  notabilities 
of  the  ancient  town  assembled  to  hear  a  performance 
by  Bach,  and  Reinken  himself  came  also.  As  he 
played  for  over  two  hours  he  must  have  given  his 
auditors  a  variety  of  works,  but  what  seemed  to  have 
impressed  Reinken  most  of  all  was  his  performance  on 
the  subject  of  the  chorale.  An  Wasserfiilssen  Babylon, 
which  must  undoubtedly  have  been  in  the  form 
and  style  of  the  "Choralfantasie,"  a  form  which  was 
not  only  most  apt  for  extempore  treatment,  but 
very  likely  originated  in  the  extemporaneous  preludis- 
ing  of  organists  in  the  church  services.  The  remark 
which  Reinken  is  said  to  have  made  to  him,  "I 
thought  that  this  art  was  dead,  but  I  see  that  in  you 
it  still  lives,"  has  rather  more  than  average  verisimili- 
tude, and  it  suggests  a  fact  that  is  often  overlooked. 
As  a  rule,  the  world  is  right  in  assuming  that  where 
novelty  is  attempted,  the  likelihood  of  vital  progress 
and  achievement  is  greatest;  and  that  a  great  line  of 
art  does  not  come  to  its  culmination  after  a  new  line  has 
become  firmly  rooted  and  arrived  at  vigorous  growth. 
The  fundamental   idea  is   that   two   systems  of    art 


96  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

shattered.  And  yet  again  a  passage  of  melodious 
adagio,  in  precisely  the  same  mood  as  the  aria — 
almost  giving  the  sense  of  being  a  continuation — to 
the  comforting  words,  Jesus  jiihret  mich  ^ur  Stille, 
whereby  the  soul  is  restored  to  peace;  and  the  fmal 
chorale,  Meinen  jesum  lass'  ich  nicht,  follows  with 
the  most  complete  aptitude.  The  contrasts  between 
the  four  sections  are  evidently  intentional.  Among 
interesting  traits  it  is  to  be  noted  that  when  the  last 
trumpet  is  mentioned,  the  trumpets  in  the  accompani- 
ment begin  playing  the  chorale  well-known  in  England 
as  the  Advent  Hymn,  "My  God,  what  do  I  see  and 
hear  ?  "  which  is  played  right  through  in  the  course  of 
the  recitative.  There  are  recitatives  and  melodious 
arias  also  for  other  solo  voices,  but  they  do  not  call  for 
special  comment. 

Bach  was  constantly  experimenting  at  this  time, 
and  the  impression  that  he  is  trying  and  testing  pro- 
cedure and  processes  is  frequently  conveyed  to  the 
mind.  The  cantata  Himmelskonig  sei  willkommen  is 
most  suggestive  in  this  sense.  It  begins  with  a 
** Sonata"  for  instruments  in  one  movement,  in  which 
the  trochaic  motion  of  the  melody  and  slow  beats 
of  the  accompanying  chords  finely  suggest  the  digni- 
fied approach  of  the  "Himmelskonig."  This  is  fol- 
lowed by  a  fugal  chorus  and  a  series  of  recitatives 
and  airs.  The  usual  four-part  chorale  is  not  intro- 
duced at  the  end,  but  in  place  of  it  there  is  a  fme 
chorus,  which  is  in  the  "Pachelbel-Choralvorspiel" 
form,  on  the  chorale  "Jesu,  deine  Passion,"  and  even 
after  that  there  is  a  "Schluss  Chor"  of  lively  charac- 
ter in  aria  form,  and  in  the  J  time  which  was  so 
often  used  in  the  last  movements  of  Italian  concertos. 


Weimar  97 

Here,  indeed,  is  ample  compounding   of    Italian  and 
German  forms.     . 

Der  Hinimel  lacht  presents  a  good  deal  of  di- 
versity, and  is  a  most  imposing  work.  But  unluckily 
it  cannot  be  decisively  said  how  much  is  genuinely 
Weimar  work,  as  Bach  is  known  to  have  revised  it 
considerably  later.  It  opens  with  a  vigorous  and  fully 
developed  "Sonata"  for  a  very  full  band,  then  follows 
a  brilliant  chorus  mingling  fugal  methods  with  rhythmic 
harmonies,  some  beautiful  arias  and  arioso  passages 
(which  are  mainly  infused  with  Bach's  earlier  and 
warmly  romantic  manner),  and  a  chorale  at  the  end 
which  is  fully  accompanied,  but  without  any  adornment 
of  instrumental  effect. 

Bereitet  die  Wege  is  a  short  cantata  for  solo  voices 
which  gains  an  adventitious  interest  from  the  fact  that 
Bach  inserted  the  date  of  its  composition  (171 5)  on  the 
title-page.  It  is  also  notable  that  he  there  calls  the  work 
a  Concerto,  and  that  having  spent  an  unusual  amount 
of  trouble  on  the  title-page,  he  was  for  some  reason  or 
other  prevented  from  devoting  the  necessary  time  to 
the  filling  in  of  all  sorts  of  details  in  the  score.  The 
names  of  the  instruments  are  omitted,  lines  in  the  score 
are  not  filled  in,  and  the  final  chorale  is  wanting! 

Triti  auf  die  Glauhenshahn  (a  solo  cantata)  also 
belongs  to  the  year  171 5,  and  is  set  to  words  by  Salome 
Franck.  It  begins  with  two  introductory  movements 
which  are  scored  for  a  singular  group  of  instruments,— 
flute,  oboe,  viola  d'amore,  viola  da  gamba,  and  con- 
tinue. The  viola  d'amore  also  has  a  very  important 
solo  part  in  the  soprano  solo.  Stein,  der  iiher  alle 
Schdtie,  hilj.  There  is  a  quaint  suggestion  of  realism 
in  the  first  phrase  of  the  first  aria. 


98  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

Der  Friede  set  mit  dir  is  very  characteristic  of  the 
Weimar  period.  It  begins  with  an  expressive  reci- 
tative for  Bass.  In  the  central  Aria-duet  the  me- 
lodious phrases  of  the  Bass  are  answered  at  intervals 
by  the  Soprano  in  phrases  of  a  Chorale;  and  later  the 
Bass  sings  an  Arioso. 

Barmher{iges  Her{e,  is  also  a  cantata  for  solo  voices. 
The  first  movement  is  a  duet  for  soprano  and  tenor  in 
the  accompaniment  of  which  the  chorale  Ich  ruf  :(u  dir 
is  played  by  oboe  or  trumpet.  There  is  an  important 
accompanied  recitative  for  alto  and  an  interesting  aria 
for  the  same  voice,  and  a  solo  for  bass;  and  it  ends  with 
the  same  chorale  which  was  played  in  the  accompani- 
ment of  the  first  duet  harmonised  with  a  simple  free 
part  for  violin. 

.  Komm,  du  siisse  Todesstunde  is  a  very  interesting 
cantata  with  many  beautiful  features.  It  is  rather 
unusual  in  form,  as  it  begins  with  a  tender  aria,  with 
a  Chorale  in  the  accompaniment,  for  alto  solo.  This 
is  followed  by  a  recitative  and  a  serious  aria  for  tenor. 
Then  follows  an  interesting  accompanied  recitative 
for  alto,  in  which  Bach  anticipates  an  effect  he  used 
again  more  than  once,  of  suggesting,  in  connection  with 
the  words  "Schlage  doch,  du  letzter  Stundenschlag" 
the  effect  of  bells — which  in  this  case  is  effected  by 
reiterated  notes  in  the  flutes  and  pizzicati  strings. 
Then  there  comes,  at  last,  a  chorus  in  flowing  style 
and  f  time,  the  vocal  portions  alternating  with 
orchestral  episodes.  The  final  chorale  is  also  very 
happily  accompanied  by  the  two  flutes  in  unison. 

Achy  ich  sehe  is  also  a  solo  cantata.  The  most 
interesting  feature  is  the  aria  for  bass  at  the  beginning, 
in  which  the  basses  of  the  accompaniment  keep  up  cease- 
less quaver  motion  almost  amounting  to  a  ground  bass. 


I 


Weimar  99 

The  texture  of  the  accompaniment  is  altogether  very 
richly  and  highly  organised — indeed,  most  masterly  in 
detail.  The  other  solos — a  soprano  aria,  and  a  duet 
for  alto  and  tenor — are  not  so  interesting. 

Nur  Jedem  das  Seine  is  also  a  solo  cantata  to 
words  of  Franck's,  of  which  the  first  aria  for  tenor  is 
again  the  most  important.  The  duet  for  soprano  and 
alto,  Nim'm  mich  mir,  has  the  character  of  a  dia- 
logue. The  final  chorus  is  not  filled  in,  but  only  a 
figured  bass  is  given  with  the  words  "Choral  in  sim- 
plici  stylo"  written  over  it. 

Mein  Goit,  wie  lang — another  solo  cantata — is  headed 
'"Concerto."  It  begins  with  a  very  expressive  and  sin- 
gularly metrical  recitative  for  soprano  with  a  beautiful 
melismatic  close.  This  is  followed  by  a  duet  for  alto 
and  tenor  with  elaborate  obligato  part  for  bassoon.  A 
recitative  for  bass  and  a  strenuous  aria  for  soprano,  and 
the  final  four-part  chorale  complete  the  scheme. 

Heri  und  Mimd  is  on  a  grander  scale  than  these 
solo  cantatas,  being  divided  into  two  portions.  The 
most  important  feature  is  the  opening  chorus,  which 
is  in  very  florid  style  with  fugal  treatment  and  elaborate 
runs  and  a  brilliant  accompaniment  for  trumpet. 
There  are  several  interesting  solos  with  intricate 
accompaniments,  and  both  halves  conclude  with  the 
same  chorale  with  florid  accompaniment  of  strings. 

The  solo  movements  of  another  cantata  of  this  period, 
written  to  Franck's  words,  Alles  was  von  Gott,  were 
revived,  probably  with  revisions,  in  the  great  cantata, 
Etn  feste  Burg,  in  Bach's  latest  years  (p.  391). 

Of  the  more  intimate  details  of  Bach's  life  at  Weimar 
nothing  is  ascertainable,  and  of  his  public  life  little  is 
known,  and  that  mainly  by  inference.  A  fairly  full 
record  can  be  pieced  together  with  the  help  of  existing 


I02  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

great  reputation  as  a  clavier  player.  It  seems  that  he 
journeyed  to  Dresden  in  the  latter  part  of  17 17,  and 
that  J.  L.  Marchand,  the  French  composer  and  clavier 
player,  was  there  at  the  time.  Marchand's  reputation 
in  Paris  was  very  great,  and  it  is  evident  that  the 
amateurs  at  the  Dresden  Court  also  had  a  very  high 
opinion  of  him;  but  John  Sebastian's  powers  were  more 
or  less  known  by  this  time,  and  it  somehow  was  brought 
about  that  there  should  be  some  sort  of  an  artistic 
contest  between  them.  The  embellishments  of  the 
story  in  point  of  detail,  which  are  given  by  various 
narrators,  are  naturally  rather  the  outcome  of  a  desire 
to  make  it  effective  than  to  be  exact;  but  on  one  point 
at  least  they  most  of  them  concur,  which  was  that 
time  and  place  were  agreed  upon,  and  John  Sebastian 
was  ready,  but  not  Marchand,  who  had  taken  an  early 
departure  from  Dresden  that  very  day.  It  was  of 
course  assumed  that  he  had  gauged  the  powers  of  his 
antagonist,  and  had  foreseen  defeat,  and  fled;  and  that 
view  has  met  with  general  endorsement.  The  only 
points  really  worth  notice  are  that  Bach  had  by  this 
time  attained  supreme  pre-eminence  as  a  clavier  player 
as  well  as  an  organist,  and  that  the  zest  with  which  the 
chroniclers  report  the  story  implies  cordial  admiration. 
It  must  have  been  about  this  time,  towards  the  end 
of  17 17,  that  Bach  resigned  his  position  at  Weimar. 
But  little  is  known  of  the  circumstances,  and  even  the 
exact  dates  are  uncertain.  It  is  only  certain  that  at 
the  end  of  the  year  he  was  no  longer  in  the  service  of 
the  Duke  of  Saxe-Weimar  but  in  that  of  Prince  Leopold 
of  Anhalt-Cothen.  The  circumstances  were  destined 
to  lead  him  to  explore  new  artistic  fields.  While  at 
Weimar,  the  duties  of  his  office  and  the  opportunities 


Weimar  103 

it  afforded  him  had  caused  him  to  address  himself 
especially  to  the  composition  of  organ  music  and 
church  cantatas;  and  the  results  are  supremely 
interesting.  The  Weimar  cantatas  have  indeed  a 
special  quality  about  them — a  romantic  fervour  and 
sensitiveness  of  poetic  feeling  which  are  most  charac- 
teristic of  his  personality.  But  organ  music  was  the 
only  department  in  which  he  had  as  yet  attained  to 
the  fulness  of  his  powers.  He  was  one  of  the  com- 
posers who  grew  in  scope  and  resourcefulness  all  his  life 
long,  and  wonderful  and  delightful  as  the  best  of  the 
other  works  are,  they  are  surpassed  in  grandeur  and 
scope  by  works  of  the  same  order  which  he  produced 
later  in  life. 

By  the  time  Bach  left  Weimar  he  already  had  several 
children.  The  eldest  child  was  a  daughter  named 
Katharine  Dorothea,  bom  in  1708,  probably  at  Muhl- 
hausen,  and  the  eldest  son,  V/ilhelm  Friedemann,  was 
born  during  the  Weimar  time,  in  17 1  o.  At  Weimar,  the 
best  known  of  his  sons,  Carl  Philip  Emmanuel,  was 
born  in  17 14,  and  also  Johann  Gottfried  Bernhard  in 
171 5.  No  traces  remain  of  the  story  of  the  domestic 
life  of  this  time,  and  speculation  and  surmises  are 
fruitless.  With  John  Sebastian  the  artistic  life  is  all 
in  all,  and  of  that  a  new  phase  was  opened  when  he 
transferred  his  allegiance  to  a  new  master. 


CHAPTER  IV 

COTHEN 

The  reasons  which  caused  Bach  to  give  up  a  post 
where  he  had  a  good  organ  at  his  disposal  and  ample 
resources  for  performance  of  choral  and  instrumental 
works  on  a  large  scale,  for  the  post  of  Kapellmeister 
in  a  small  court,  where  there  was  no  adequate  organ, 
no  adequate  choir,  and  not  even  a  theatre  to  draw  upon 
for  instrumentalists  and  singers,  must  have  appeared 
to  him  very  weighty,  but  there  is  very  little  to  show 
what  they  were.  The  immediate  impetus  to  leave 
Weimar  may  have  been  given  when  Duke  Wiihelm 
August,  his  master,  conferred  the  Kapellmeistership 
on  Johann  Wiihelm  Drese  when  his  father  died,  late 
in  17 1 6.  But  there  is  no  reason  to  think  that  the 
appointment  was  any  reflection  on  Bach.  The  family 
of  Drese  had  occupied  the  foremost  position  in  the 
musical  establishment  at  Weimar  for  more  than  half 
a  century;  and  as  the  Duke  is  reported  to  have  been 
very  loyal  to  his  dependants,  it  is  very  likely  that 
he  made  the  appointment  in  consideration  of  the 
long  service  of  the  Dreses,  rather  than  from  any 
lack  of  appreciation  of  Bach.  At  the  moment, 
possibly,  there  may  not  have  been  any  other  post 
available,  and  Bach's  disposition  being  impetuous  and 

104 


Cothen  105 

impatient,  he  would  no  doubt  see  any  change  that 
offered  in  a  favourable  light.  He  was  attracted  by 
what  he  knew  of  the  young  Prince  Leopold  of 
Anhalt-Cothen,  and  he  may  have  welcomed  the  idea 
of  being  a  Kapellmeister,  and  he  may  have  felt 
attracted  by  the  idea  of  occupying  himself  with  a 
diiierent  kind  of  music  from  that  which  he  had  hither- 
to cultivated.  The  world  has  so  identified  him  with 
organ  music  that  it  seems  alm.ost  incredible  that  he 
should  have  accepted  a  position  in  which  he  was 
almost  cut  off  from  it,  and  where  his  duties  would 
mainly  lie  in  a  department  of  music  which  at 
that  time  was  more  backward  than  any  other.  For 
indeed  secular  instrumental  music  was  but  just  begin- 
ning to  emerge  into  any  kind  of  definite  independent 
existence.  The  Italian  school  of  violinists  had  done 
something  ,  towards  establishing  the  style  of  violin 
music,  but  even  Corelli's  concerti  grossi  had  only  made 
their  appearance  about  five  years  before.  Clavier 
music  had  been  slumbering  till  but  a  few  years  before. 
Kuhnau  had  broken  new  ground  with  his  suites  and 
sonatas.  Froberger's  interesting  suites,  Couperin's 
elegant  "Ordres"  in  the  same  branch  of  art,  Mufiat's 
"  Florilegium,"  Purcell's  sonatas  for  strings,  Vivaldi's 
concertos,  and  Biber's  violin  sonatas  indicated  the 
direction  of  composers'  aspirations,  but  extremely  little 
had  been  done  in  which  inadequacy  of  some  sort  or 
another,  as  pure  instrumental  music,  is  not  apparent. 
It  is  conceivable  that  this  may  have  been  an  induce- 
ment, and  that  Bach  felt  that  an  opportunity  worthy 
of  him  was  to  be  found  in  this  hitherto  slenderly  culti- 
vated branch  of  art.  But  at  the  same  time  it  must  be 
admitted  that   Bach's  cultivation  of  secular  instru- 


io6  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

mental  music  may  have  been  caused  by  his  being  forced 
to  reahse  the  inadequacy  of  all  existing  music  of  the 
kind  through  hearing  it  so  often  at  Cothen.  Which 
was  antecedent  and  which  consequent  in  this  case  is 
too  subtle  a  question  to  be  discussed  here;  and,  indeed, 
it  is  of  no  very  great  consequence.  The  essential  fact 
is  that  he  applied  himself  with  marvellous  energy  to 
make  the  best  use  of  the  special  opportunities  which 
Cothen  afforded  him. 

It  needs  to  be  kept  in  mind  that,  though  hereditary, 
local  and  national  influences  all  converged  to  impel 
him  to  concentrate  his  energies  on  sacred  music  and 
music  connected  with  the  church,  he  was  inevitably 
influenced  by  the  fact  that  the  greater  part  of  artistic 
method  since  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century 
had  been  developed  in  secular  branches  of  art.  Bach 
himself  had  already  adapted  secular  methods  and  forms 
to  sacred  uses.  And  great  as  his  natural  musical  apti- 
tudes were,  there  can  hardly  be  any  doubt  that  a  frank 
and  uncompromising  cultivation  of  secular  music  for 
itself  was  a  necessary  preliminary  to  the  full  expansion 
and  attainment  of  his  artistic  personality.  When 
men  cultivate  any  branch  of  intellectual  activity  merely 
as  a  secondary  accessory,  while  the  main  energies  of 
their  minds  are  occupied  with  other  lines  of  thought, 
they  never  get  thoroughly  hold  of  the  essentials.  If 
Bach  had  continued  through  life  to  concentrate  his 
attention  on  church  music,  and  had  given  no  more  con- 
sideration to  secular  music  than  his  quick  perception 
needed  to  divine  the  methods  which  were  equally 
applicable  to  serious  art,  the  world  would  not  only  have 
been  the  poorer  for  the  lack  of  a  large  number  of 
secular  works  which  are  among  the  most  permanent 


Cothen  107 

delights  of  artistically  minded  people,  but  the  sacred 
works  which  he  produced  in  later  years,  which  are  the 
crown  of  a  life  unconsciously  devoted  to  self-develop- 
ment, would  have  been  shorn  of  a  great  part  of  their 
completeness. 

Thus,  whichever  way  it  is  considered,  the  Cothen 
period  is  one  of  pre-eminent  importance;  and  the  world 
owes  some  recognition  to  the  young  prince  whose  pecu- 
liar and  well-defmed  tastes  exercised  so  much  influence 
in  the  development  of  the  composite  sum-total  of  the 
artistic  personality  of  John  Sebastian. 

It  would  have  been  gratifying  to  human  curiosity, 
and  also  in  some  ways  historically  useful,  if  it  had 
been  possible  to  fix  the  exact  dates  of  production  of 
the  most  important  of  Bach's  secular  compositions. 
For  the  greater  part  of  them  the  world  has  to  be  satis- 
fied with  the  result  of  a  process  of  elimination.  It 
can  be  inferred  with  a  certain  amount  of  safety  that 
special  works  could  not  have  been  produced  either  in 
his  least  mature  or  most  mature  periods;  that  they 
have  traits  inconsistent  with  influences  which  are 
known  to  have  been  paramount  at  particular  periods, 
and  the  inference  so  attained  may  be  strengthened 
by  the  knowledge  of  those  influences.  In  this  manner 
most  of  the  great  secular  instrumental  works  can  be 
narrowed  down  to  the  Cothen  period.  But  it  was  not 
till  some  time  after  he  had  been  settled  in  Cothen  that 
his  productivity  in  this  new  line  of  art  can  be  safely 
referred  to.  In  the  earlier  years  he  was  probably 
assimilating  and  learning  from  practical  experience  of 
the  works  of  experts  in  several  different  forms  of  secular 
instrumental  art  how  to  improve  upon  their  efforts 
and  show  the  utmost  that  could  be  done  in  the  various 


io8  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

lines  v/hich  were  cultivated  in  the  old  style  of  instru- 
mental counterpoint.  And  in  these  earlier  years  there 
are  a  few  incidents  which  require  to  be  enumerated. 

The  young  prince  seems  to  have  been  attached  to 
his  musicians,  and  when  he  went  away  from  home  he 
generally  took  a  few  of  them  with  him,  and  his  Kapell- 
mieister  was  of  course  included.  On  one  of  these  oc- 
casions they  went  to  Carlsbad  in  May,  1720;  and  when 
Bach  returned  he  found  his  domestic  circle  broken  up 
by  the  death  of  his  beloved  wife,  Maria  Barbara.  As 
has  been  before  observed,  nothing  is  known  of 
their  private  life  and  nothing  can  be  said  on  the 
subject.  The  Bachs  were  a  domestic  race,  and 
John  Sebastian's  noble  disposition  justifies  the  sur- 
mise that  he  suffered  from  what  must  be  the  severest 
blow  in  any  well  constituted  man's  experience.  But  it 
is  also  clear  that  he  was  not  overwhelmed,  and  found 
solace  in  his  work.  A  church  cantata,  Wer  sich  selhst 
erhohet  is  attributed  to  this  time.  It  begins  with  a 
fme  fugal  chorus  in  a  rather  conventional  contrapuntal 
style — not  presenting  Bach's  personality  very  forcibly 
except  in  its  skilful  development.  A  soprano  air  has 
an  elaborate  organ  part,  obligato.  A  fme  accompanied 
recitative  for  bass  is  highly  characteristic  of  his  inter- 
pretation of  such  grim  words  as  "  Der  Mensch  ist 
Koth,  Staub,  Asch'  und  Erde."  It  may  be  m.entioned 
here  that  one  other  church  cantata.  Das  ist  je  gewiss- 
lich  wahr,  is  attributed  to  the  Cothen  time.  It  must 
be  admitted  to  be  rather  commonplace. 

In  the  latter  part  of  this  year  1720,  also,  another 
journey  to  Hamburg  is  recorded;  when  Bach  came  into 
contact  with  Johannes  Reinken,  the  ancient  organist 
of  St.    Katherine's   Church,  for   the  last   time.     His 


Cothen  109 

previous  journeys  there  had  been  the  pilgrimages  of  an 
ardent  student,  bent  on  penetrating  the  artistic  secrets 
of  the  famous  master;  he  now  went  as  the  full-fledged 
master  himself  and,  without  doubt,  far  greater  and 
more  efficient  than  the  man  whom  in  former  days  he 
had  reverently  subjected  to  close  observation.  There 
are  sufficient  proofs  that  he  still  respected  the  powers 
of  his  former  exemplar;  and  if  the  old  man  knew  little 
of  the  power  of  the  younger,  it  is  satisfactory  to  find  it 
credibly  recorded  that  he  availed  himself  honourably 
of  the  opportunity  to  inform  himself.  According  to 
Mizler — one  of  the  chroniclers — some  of  the  notabilities 
of  the  ancient  town  assembled  to  hear  a  performance 
by  Bach,  and  Reinken  himself  came  also.  As  he 
played  for  over  two  hours  he  must  have  given  his 
auditors  a  variety  of  works,  but  what  seemed  to  have 
impressed  Reinken  most  of  all  was  his  performance  on 
the  subject  of  the  chorale,  An  fVasserflussen  Babylon, 
which  m.ust  undoubtedly  have  been  in  the  form 
and  style  of  the  "Choralfantasie,"  a  form  which  was 
not  only  most  apt  for  extempore  treatment,  but 
very  likely  originated  in  the  extemporaneous  preludis- 
ing  of  organists  in  the  church  services.  The  remark 
which  Reinken  is  said  to  have  made  to  him,  "  I 
thought  that  this  art  was  dead,  but  I  see  that  in  you 
it  still  lives,"  has  rather  more  than  average  verisimili- 
tude, and  it  suggests  a  fact  that  is  often  overlooked. 
As  a  rule,  the  world  is  right  in  assuming  that  where 
novelty  is  attempted,  the  likelihood  of  vital  progress 
and  achievement  is  greatest;  and  that  a  great  line  of 
art  does  not  come  to  its  culmination  after  a  new  line  has 
become  firmly  rooted  and  arrived  at  vigorous  growth. 
The   fundamental   idea  is   that   two   systems  of    art 


no  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

cannot  flourish  simultaneously,  and  that  new  develop- 
ments do  not  come  before  the  older  developments 
have  exhausted  all  their  utiHty.  But  the  idea  is 
proved  by  facts  to  be  erroneous.  The  world  which 
often  mistakes  impatience  for  genius,  and  novelty  for 
inspiration,  sometimes  concludes  that  the  old  paths 
are  worn  out  long  before  men  have  followed  them  to 
their  destinations.  The  men  who  had  been  laid  hold  of 
by  the  dramatic  power  of  Monte verde's  experiments 
thought  that  the  old  style  of  polyphonic  dioral  musj^ 
was  utterly  dead  and  done  with;  yet  many  of  its  most 
interesting  products  came  into  being  after  the  appear- 
ance of  "Arianna"  and  "Orfeo,"  Bach's  case  is  par- 
ticularly enlightening;  for  whereas  the  harmonic  style 
of  opera  and  instrumental  music  had  become  well 
established  and  had  taken  firm  hold  of  the  public  mind 
before  he  was  born,  and  art  in  general  was  gravitating 
in  the  direction  of  Italian  style  and  Italian  methods,  he 
devoted  himself  to  bringing  various  branchei  of  art  to 
perfection  in  the  polyphonic  style,  and,  while  assimilat- 
ing all  that  was  to  be  learnt  from  the  Italians,  applied  it 
for  the  first  great  manifestation  of  purely  Teutonic  art, 
and  for  the  absolute  vindication  of  principles  of  de- 
velopment and  texture  which  were  entirely  alien  and 
uncongenial  to  the  Italian  temiperament. 

From  such  considerations  it  is  evident  that  John 
Sebastian  is  the  pre-eminent  example  of  the  type  of 
artist  who  follows  deeply  rooted  principles,  without 
regard  for  the  popular  trend  of  taste  and  style.  His 
artistic  instinct  could  not  rest  content  with  anything 
less  than  the  richest  and  most  copious  resources  of  art, 
and  it  was  only  in  the  polyphonic  methods  of  the  North 
German  organists  that  he  found  adequate  scope  for 


Cothen  1 1 1 

the  employment  of  the  characteristic  and  vivid  details 
which  were  necessary  for  the  full  execution   of  his 
purposes.    The  impulse  of   the  composers  who   had 
adopted,  without  compromise,  the  new  Italian  secular 
methods,  was  to  seek  mainly  for  effects  of  melody  sup- 
ported by  conventional  and  purely  secondary  accom- 
paniment, and  to  strive  after  simple  elegance  of  form. 
And  to  such  composers  a  scheme  like  that  of  the 
" Choral vorspiel,"  which  is  full   of  intimate  subtleties 
of  detail  and  expression,  had  become  almost  impossible. 
So  Reinken's  remark  seems  to  be  singularly  to  the 
point ;  and  though  to  some  it  might  suggest  the  pedantic 
overvaluation  of  times  past,  it  was  just  in  its  estimate 
of  the  special  nature  of  Bach's  artistic  position. 

Reinken  was  at  that  time  no  less  than  ninety-seven 
years  old,  so  his  experience  of  art  was  exceptionally  ex- 
tensive;   for   he  was  born  before   Monteverde's  later 
operas  saw  the  light,  and  more  than  a  decade  before 
Cavalli  began  his  work,  and  lived  till  Handel's  bnlhant 
career  as  an  opera  composer  had  ended,  and  till  withm 
ten  years  of  the  birth  of  Haydn.     Few  men  could  have 
seen  more  com.prehensive  changes  in  art ;  and  if  it  be  ad- 
mitted that  in  the  main  body  of  art  immiense  advances 
had  been  made,  as  illustrated  by  the  operatic  work  of 
Alessandro  Scarlatti  and  Handel  when  compared  with 
the  somewhat  infantile  and  speculative  experiments  of 
the  early  cultivators  of  the  "Nuove  Musiche,"  it  must 
be  observed  that  the  branch  of  the  art  which  Remken 
followed  was  just  the  one  which  had  begun  to  fall 
backwards.    The  influence  of  the  new  harm.onic  style 
was  beginning  to  make  itself  felt  in  organ  music,  and 
wherever  this  was  the  case,  deterioration  set  in.     So. 
though   Reinken   had   the  reputation  of  having  even 


112  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

more  than  an  adequately  good  opinion  of  himself,  he 
would  indeed  have  been  more  than  human  if  he  had 
not  been  gladdened  to  fmd  a  man  of  such  supreme 
powers  on  his  own  side,  just  at  the  time  when  all  the 
world  seemed  disposed  to  give  him  the  cold  shoulder. 
His  sympathetic  utterance  in  this  case  was  probably 
his  last  communication  of  any  importance  to  the  world, 
as  he  died  two  years  later  at  the  remarkable  age  of 
ninety-nine. 

John  Sebastian  had  occasion  to  prolong  his  visit  at 
Hamburg,  as  he  heard  that  the  organist  of  St.  James's 
Church  had  recently  died,  and  as  the  organ  there  was 
an  exceptionally  fme  one  of  sixty  stops,  and  the  appoint- 
ment in  such  an  important  town  as  Hamburg  offered 
many  favourable  opportunities,  he  presented  himself 
for  the  post.  There  were  several  other  candidates, 
and  it  was  decided  that  they  should  all  perform  on  the 
organ  before  a  kind  of  committee  of  local  organists, 
one  of  whom  was  to  be  Rein  ken,  on  November 
28th,  and  that  the  selection  should  be  made  after- 
wards, presumably  on  their  recommendation.  How- 
ever, the  Prince,  his  employer,  required  him  at  Cothen 
five  days  earlier,  so  Bach  never  took  part  in 
the  competition,  and  was  not  elected.  The  his- 
tory of  the  art  of  music  would  have  read  differently 
but  for  this  trifling  accident;  for  if  Bach  had  so  soon 
severed  his  connection  with  Cothen  and  resumed  the 
work  of  an  organist,  it  is  unlikely  that  the  greater  part 
of  his  secular  instrumental  music  would  have  been 
written. 

The  year  1720,  in  which  his  first  wife  died,  is  note- 
worthy as  the  beginning  of  the  period  when  Bach's 
mind  was  specially  projected  towards  secular  instru- 


Co  then  113 

mental  music;  and  it  seems  as  if  domestic  circum- 
stances were  again  exercising  influence  on  the  course 
of  his  activities.  It  is  worth  recalling  that  the  first 
of  his  secular  instrumental  works  for  the  domestic 
keyed  instrument  which  can  be  definitely  dated  was 
the  outcome  of  family  circumstances,  as  it  was  the 
parting  with  his  brother  John  Jacob  in  1704  that  caused 
him  to  write  the  Capriccio  for  clavier  which  has  already 
been  referred  to  (p.  40).  Now,  again,  it  was  the  wish 
to  develop  the  expanding  musical  gifts  of  his  eldest  son 
Wilhelm  Friedemann,  who  was  nine  years  old,  which 
supplied  the  impulse  to  devise  the  Little  Clavier 
Book  or  Clavier-Buchlein. 

The  work  is  surprisingly  full  of  interest;  but  nothing 
in  it  is  more  significant  than  some  short  passages  to 
which  Bach  has  added  numerals  to  indicate  to  little 
Friedemann  how  to  use  his  fingers.  These,  in  view  of 
the  complete  and  radical  reorganisation  of  the  old 
system  of  fingering  which  Bach  effected,  become 
historic  landmarks. 

Previous  to  the  seventeenth  century,  players  of  the 
domestic  keyed  instruments  had  for  the  most  part  been 
content  to  use  only  the  four  fingers  of  either  hand, 
and  the  thumb  was  hardly  used  at  all.  Nothing  was 
gained  in  respect  of  power  of  tone  by  increased  force 
of  the  blow  of  the  finger  on  a  key  in  either  clavichord 
or  harpsichord,  so  the  hand  and  fingers  were  kept 
almost  flat;  and  in  that  position  the  thumb  was  too 
short  to  reach  the  keys  without  awkward  movements 
of  the  wrist  and  arm.  This  entailed  the  passing  of 
longer  fingers  over  short  ones,  and  of  short  ones  oc- 
casionally under  long  ones.  The  middle  finger  was  the 
principal  resource  for  such  processes,  and  crossed  o\'er 


114  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

the  back  of  either  the  pointer  finger  or  the  clumsy 
finger  as  required,  and  the  Httle  finger  had  to  be  oc- 
casionally slipped  under  the  clumsy  finger. 

With  such  limitations,  a  good  deal  of  such  music  as 
John  Bull's  virginal  music  seems  almost  impossible,  and 
it  is  quite  clear  that  a  great  many  passages  in  the  old 
music  in  which  several  parts  are  mioving  simultaneously 
could  not  have  been  played  without  a  wider  reach 
than  the  fingers  alone  were  capable  of  attaining.  But 
the  thumb  was,  nevertheless,  in  theory  more  or  less 
tabooed,  and  there  was  no  system.  Some  players  who 
attained  great  reputation  with  the  musical  public 
probably  had  their  own  little  secrets  and  their  own 
ways  of  coping  with  difficulties;  and  different  author- 
ities had  different  views  even  on  such  a  simple  matter 
as  fingering  the  scale.  The  impulse  of  John  Sebastian 
to  achieve  the  utmost  possible  in  execution  soon  caused 
him  to  bring  the  thumb  into  activity;  but  he  cannot 
have  all  the  credit,  for  there  is  no  doubt  that  the 
moment  had  arrived  in  the  history  of  the  art  when 
all  means  of  execution  must  be  brought  into  requisition, 
and  the  discovery  of  the  function  of  the  thumb  was 
being  made  simultaneously  in  various  parts  of  the 
civilised  world.  Thus,  Couperin,  the  famous  French 
clavecinist,  in  UArt  de  toucher  le  Clavecin  (which 
came  out  in  the  very  year  that  John  Sebastian  went  to 
Cothen),  gives  copious  examples  of  fingering  in  which 
the  thumb  is  liberally  used.  But  it  illustrates  the  help- 
lessness of  the  human  mind  to  speculate  far  ahead  of  the 
limits  of  experience,  that  he  evidently  did  not  realise  the 
special  advantage  of  the  thumb  passing  under  the  hand, 
but  made  it  frequently  pass  over  the  middle  finger 
when  a  white  key  played  by  the  middle  finger  had  to 


Cothen  1 1 5 

be  succeeded  by  a  black  key  on  the  far  side  of  it  from 
the  thumb.  Such  a  procedure  is  so  contrary  to  modern 
practice  that  it  is  almost  unthinkable,  and  emphasises 
to  a  very  striking  degree  the  limited  extent  to  which 
players  had  been  accustomed  to  use  the  thumb,  and 
their  consequent  Jack  of  understanding  of  the  ways 
in  which  it  might  become  most  serviceable. 

John  Sebastian,  at  all  events,  divined  the  usefulness 
of  crossing  the  thumb  under  the  hand,  and  thus  became 
in  a  sense  the  precursor  of  the  modern  system  of  fin- 
gering; but  he  also  maintained  many  of  the  ancient 
habits  of  fingering,  and  continued  frequently  to  cross 
long  fingers  over  short  ones.  This  was  partly  a  result 
of  the  character  of  the  instruments  he  played  upon, 
with  which  specially  artistic  efi'ects  were  obtained  by 
gliding  from  note  to  note;  and  the  modern  system,  in 
which  the  passing  of  the  thumb  under  the  hand  plays 
so  conspicuous  a  part,  did  not  attain  to  complete  recog- 
nition till  the  harpsichord  and  the  clavichord  were 
superseded  by  the  pianoforte,  which  required  a  totally 
difi"erent  position  of  the  hand  to  give  full  efi'ect  to  its 
capacity  for  varying  the  tone  in  connection  with  the 
force  of  the  blow  on  the  key.  Bach's  fingering  was, 
in  fact,  a  transition  stage,  retaining  some  of  the  old 
traditional  usages  of  harpsichord  players  and  clavi- 
chord players  but  anticipating  some  of  the  devices  of 
piano  players. 

But  it  is  evident  that  it  was  not  completely  system- 
atised.  For  it  is  noteworthy  that  though  his  son  Philip 
Emmanuel  (who  was  the  greatest  authority  on  clavier 
playing  in  the  next  generation)  referred  to  his  father's 
practice  as  the  foundation  of  his  own,  there  are  many 
discrepancies  of  detail  in  their  usage.     Indeed,  at  that 


ii6  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

time  there  was  no  recognised  system,  and  the  great 
players  had  their  own  individual  ways,  and  used  such 
devices  of  crossing  fingers  over  one  another  as  suited 
their  particular  hands  or  their  particular  fancies  in  the 
way  of  phrasing.  Of  the  habits  of  such  players  as 
Handel  and  Domenico  Scarlatti  nothing  definite  is 
knov/n.  From  some  observations  of  Mattheson's  it 
has  been  inferred  that  Handel  did  not  pass  his  thumbs 
under  his  hands,  but  passed  the  fingers  over  one  another 
in  the  traditional  manner.  It  is  the  good  fortune  of 
having  a  little  piece  in  the  Clavier- Buchlein  fingered 
for  Friedemann  that  affords  proof  of  Bach's  being 
in  the  forefront  of  those  players  who  immensely  ex- 
tended the  range  of  technique  by  adding  another 
serviceable  member  to  the  group  of  fingers  of  each 
hand.     Some  of  the  fingered  passages  are  as  follows : 

Right  Hand. 


Left  Hand. 


3212      1212 


Beyond  this,  as  has  been  said,  the  book  is  inter- 
esting as  representing  Bach's  ideas  of  the  order  in 
which   technical    and    artistic    difficulties    should    be 


Cothen  117 

taken.  The  explanation  of  clefs  and  scales  is  neces- 
sarily in  the  forefront,  and  thereupon  follows  the 
consideration  of  the  signs  used  for  embellishments. 
The  prominence  thus  given  to  these  departments  of 
art  recalls  to  mind  how  great  the  sphere  of  ornament 
was  in  those  days,  and  how  essential  it  was  to  the  clavier 
player  to  make  the  ready  interpretation  of  the  most 
familiar  turns,  mordents,  and  shakes  a  second  nature. 
But  after  providing  for  knowledge  of  that  department 
of  art,  Bach  passes  on  to  the  mastery  of  such  matters 
as  simple  scale  passages  and  arpeggio  formulas,  which 
are  presented  in  a  piece  called  "Applicatio"  (one  of 
the  pieces  in  the  collection  which  is  fully  fingered) 
and  some  little  preludes.  Then  he  passes  on  to  part 
playing,  which  is  provided  for  in  two  arrangements 
of  chorales,  adorned  with  the  usual  ornaments  of  the 
day.  Then  come  two  short  and  simple  allemandes; 
and  so  by  degrees  more  complicated  difficulties  are 
presented,  both  in  passage  playing  and  part  playing. 
The  book  increases  in  interest  when  several  of  the  pre- 
ludes which  have  become  familiar  to  all  the  musical 
world  in  the  Wohliemperiries  Clavier  make  their  ap- 
pearance; some,  as  for  instance  the  tranquil  medi- 
tative first  prelude  in  C  major,  in  a  simpler  and  shorter 
form  than  the  version  generally  known;  some,  like  the 
second  in  C  minor,  with  the  bustling  energetic  figures 
in  both  hands  almost  complete,  but  an  abbreviated 
coda;  some,  again,  like  that  in  E  minor  in  the  first  book, 
not  only  in  a  shorter  form  but  with  a  totally  different 
treatment  of  the  work  for  the  right  hand.  Later  on 
several  of  the  preludes  in  more  difficult  keys  make  their' 
appearance,  such  as  the  prelude  in  E  major  of  the  first 
book,  the  serene  and  expressive  prelude  in  C  sharp 


ii8  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

minor,  and  the  wonderful  song-prelude  in  E  flat  minor, 
which  was  probably  introduced  to  develop  the  powers 
of  the  young  player  in  cantabile  expression  and  phras- 
ing. Many  other  familiar  pieces  make  their  appear- 
ance; such  as  some  of  the  two-part  and  three-part 
"  Inventions,"  including  such  an  exquisite  work  of 
art  as  the  three-part  invention  in  G  minor,  which  is 
here  called  "Fantasia."  Besides  these,  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  collection,  with  less  apparent  order  in 
relation  to  difficulty,  are  minuets  and  other  dance 
movements,  and  a  little  fugue. 

The  whole  scheme  is  enlightening  in  respect  of  J.  S. 
Bach's  views  and  feelings  about  education,  showing 
how  he  instinctively  felt  the  advantage  of  developing 
the  musical  intelligence  simultaneously  with  the 
technique,  instead  of  stupefying  the  learner  with 
meaningless  mechanical  exercises.  His  views  in  this 
connection  were  again  indicated  when,  two  years  later, 
he  made  two  collections  of  pieces  of  the  type  of  the 
movements  referred  to  above  as  two-part  and  three-part 
inventions,  calling  the  three-part  movements  "Sin- 
fonias,"  and  he  then  added  a  preface  in  which  he  ex- 
plains his  object  to  be  to  ''show  a  plain  way  to  lovers 
of  the  clavier  to  play  clearly  and  well  in  two  and  three 
parts,  and  to  attain  above  all  to  a  cantabile  manner  of 
playing."  They  are  all  in  the  polyphonic  style  of 
instrumental  counterpoint,  with  definite  ideas  beauti- 
fully woven  into  complete  and  finished  works  of  art. 

But  before  this  collection  was  completed  other 
important  events  had  occurred.  As  far  as  can  be 
ascertained,  the  next  work  which  was  completed  after 
Friedemann's  little  Clavier  Book  was  of  very  different 
calibre,   and  represents   Bach's  first  departure  on   a 


Cothen  119 

large  scale  into  the  region  of  secular  music  for  large 
groups  of  instruments.  It  appears  that  some  years 
before,  he  had  come  into  contact  with  a  Markgraf  of 
Brandenburg,  who  was  some  eight  years  older  than 
himself  and  was  an  enthusiast  for  music,  and  made  a 
collection  of  concertos  by  famous  living  composers; 
and  that  the  said  Markgraf,  being  struck  by  Bach's 
musical  powers,  had  invited  him  to  compose  something 
for  his  private  band  to  play;  and  it  was  in  March,  1721, 
that  the  composer  completed  the  set  of  six  remarkable 
works  which  are  known  as  the  Brandenburg  Concertos, 
and  sent  them  to  the  Markgraf,  who  was  then  in  Berlin. 

Though  he  had  written  many  instrumental  pieces 
of  considerable  dimensions  in  his  cantatas,  these 
were  probably  Bach's  first  ventures  into  the  realms 
of  absolute  instrumental  music  on  a  symphonic 
scale,  his  age  at  the  time  being  thirty-six.  Such  being 
the  case,  a  little  attention  may  fitly  be  bestowed  on 
the  form  of  art  which  he  used  and  his  attitude  towards 
it. 

The  scheme  of  the  early  type  of  concerto  (which  was 
the  first  form  of  orchestral  music  cultivated  by  the 
secularist  composers  of  the  seventeenth  century), 
suggests  that  it  was  the  outcome  of  private  musical 
establishments  in  which  there  was  a  select  few  of  effi- 
cient performers  and  a  number  of  hacks  who  combined 
the  capacity  to  play  easy  parts,  in  company,  with  the 
execution  of  menial  duties.  In  the  earlier  days  most 
of  the  works  of  the  kind  were  written  for  stringed 
instruments  only.  For  instance,  Corelli's  twelve  con- 
certos, which  are  the  most  familiar  of  the  works  of  the 
type  which  have  survived,  were  written  for  a  "con- 
certino" of  three  soloists,  and  a  "concerto  grosso"  of 


I20  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

assistants;  the  former  consisting  of  two  violins  and  a 
violoncello,  and  the  latter  of  two  violins,  viola,  and 
bass  with  figures,  for  the  harpsichord.  It  is  important 
to  realise  that  the  conception  of  such  a  concerto  was 
quite  different  from  the  modern  idea.  The  prominence 
of  the  individual  solo  performer  and  his  "  virtuosity '*did 
not  enter  into  it  in  anything  like  the  degree  which  it 
does  in  later  times.  The  object  of  the  group  of  soloists 
was  to  deal  with  the  music  which  required  finished  exe- 
cution; and  the  "tutti"  came  in  to  supply  contrast  and 
give  the  attention  of  the  audience  a  rest,  like  the 
instrumental  "ritornelli"  in  the  early  Italian  operas. 
The  alternation  of  the  "soli  "  portions  and  the  ''  tutti" 
portions  became  the  most  conspicuous  feature  of  the 
form;  and  the  certainty  with  which  the  bustling  entry 
of  the  "tutti"  at  the  end  of  each  section  of  the  "con- 
certino" responds  to  the  hearers'  anticipation  is  almost 
laughable.  Amateurs  who  are  not  familiar  with  the 
actual  concertos  of  the  period  will  be  able  to  realise  the 
feeling  for  themselves  at  the  conventional  entry  of  the 
full  orchestra  after  a  solo  passage  in  the  early  pre- 
Beethoven  concerto  of  the  Classical  period,  which  is 
a  rudimentary  survival  from  the  earlier  stratum  of 
evolution. 

Bach  interpreted  his  opportunity  liberally  as  an 
invitation  to  show  something  quite  out  of  the  common 
in  every  way.  Though  he  had  never  essayed  anything 
of  the  kind  before,  still  he  may  have  felt  sure  that  in  the 
actual  musical  material  and  its  development  he  could 
surpass  anything  which  had  been  produced  by  man  so 
far.  But  that  would  not  satisfy  the  spirit  of  enterprise 
within  him.  He  must  needs  show  that  he  can  make 
concertos  for  all  the  different  kinds  of  solo  instruments 


Cothen  121 

available  in  those  days,  and  not  restrict  himself  solely, 
as  usual,  to  string  soloists.  The  intention  is  manifestly 
admirable  from  the  practical  point  of  view.  Whether 
the  Markgraf  had  so  many  soloists  in  his  band  is  not 
necessarily  in  question.  If  he  had,  the  writing  of  con- 
certos for  each  of  the  more  distinguished  players  was  a 
timely  compliment  to  the  musicians  themselves.  If 
he  had  not,  Bach  at  least  offered  him  the  opportunity 
of  presenting  to  his  fellow  amateurs  a  vast  enhancement 
of  the  usual  monotonous  limitations. 

The  feast  of  variety  which  Bach  thus  offered  was 
provided  for  by  writing  each  concerto  for  a  diiTerent 
group  of  instruments.  The  first,  in  F  major,  is  for 
strings  (including  a  violino-piccolo),  three  hautboys, 
two  horns,  and  a  bassoon,  with  harpsichord,  as  usual, 
to  fill  in  the  harmonies  when  needed.  The  second,  also 
in  F  major,  is  for  strings,  together  with  solo  violin,  flute, 
hautboy,  and  trumpet.  The  third,  in  G  major,  which 
consists  of  two  remarkably  brilliant  and  energetic 
movements,  is  for  three  violins,  three  violas,  three 
violoncellos,  and  bass.  The  fourth,  also  in  G  major, 
is  for  solo  violin,  two  flutes,  and  the  usual  strings; 
the  fifth,  in  D  major,  for  harpsichord,  violin,  and 
flute  solos,  with  strings;  and  the  sixth,  in  B  flat,  for 
two  violas,  two  "viole  da  gam.ba,"  violoncello,  and 
harpsichord. 

This  method  of  diverse  grouping  of  instruments 
shows  how  diiTerent  the  conception  of  orchestration 
was  in  those  days  from  what  it  is  now.  The  principles 
of  modern  orchestration,  in  which  the  special  apti- 
tudes of  all  the  different  instruments  are  made  to 
minister  in  the  highest  degree  to  the  richness  and 
variety  of  effect  and  meaning,  and  to  offer  constant 


122  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

changes  of  tone-colour,  had  scarcely  begun  to  dawn 
upon  men's  minds.  The  instruments,  as  far  as  they 
were  able,  played  the  same  types  of  passages  as  parts 
in  a  polyphonic  whole  (analogous  to  voices),  and  they 
were  not  identifiable  in  the  general  complexity  through 
the  individuality  of  their  diction,  but  merely  through 
the  difference  of  colour  which  each  particular  line  re- 
presented. The  stage  of  evolution  is  the  definite  but 
transitional  one  of  lines  of  different  colour,  following 
upon  the  earlier  system  of  lines  of  the  same  colour  (such 
as  voices),  and  preceding  the  system  of  masses  of 
colour  produced  by  grouped  instruments,  which  in  its 
turn  preceded  the  system  in  which  subtleties  of 
colour  are  produced  by  combinations  of  melodic 
lines  and  musical  figures.  In  the  stage  in  which 
Bach  worked  (and  he  had  to  work  under  the  in- 
evitable limitations  of  evolutionary  progress),  the 
lines  of  colour  or  tone-quality  which  the  individual 
instrument  represented  were  spread  over  much  wider 
areas.  For  inasmuch  as  all  the  instruments  were 
treated  melodically  and  without  much  difference  of 
type,  they  had  to  be  used  for  a  longer  time  at  a 
stretch,  in  order  to  provide  the  basis  of  contrast,  than 
is  the  case  in  later  orchestral  music,  in  which  masses 
of  varying  tone  quality  or  colour  are  incessantly  playing 
on  the  senses. 

These  concertos  illustrate  the  same  attitude  of  mind 
as  the  many  movements  in  Bach's  Cantatas  and  Passions 
and  other  works  on  a  grand  scale  in  which  a  single 
characteristic  instrument  or  a  group  of  characteristic 
instruments  is  employed  throughout  to  give  a  unity  of 
tone-colour  to  the  whole.  Indeed,  they  are  even  more 
conspicuous  examples  of  the  attitude  of  mind,  as  each 


Cothen  123 

work  as  a  whole  has  its  individual  characteristic  group- 
ing of  tone  qualities,  and  it  is  not  even  so  much  the 
individual  movements  which  are  contrasted  with  one 
another  as  one  complete  work  with  another. 

The  scheme  of  the  early  concertos  is  indeed  a  further 
illustration  of  a  primitive  conception.  Composers 
were  slowly  feeling  their  way  towards  the  complications 
of  modern  orchestration  by  various  experiments,  and 
they  frequently  essayed  to  obtain  variety  of  effect  by 
contrasts  between  instruments  of  the  same  type,  instead 
of  between  instruments  of  different  types.  They  did 
not,  even  instinctively,  realise  the  connection  between 
style  and  physical  characteristics;  and  as  their  work 
had  a  contrapuntal-basis  (in  which  the  linear  function 
of  violins  and  oboes  and  flutes  was  almost  identical),  it 
seemed  as  natural  to  them  to  obtain  a  modified  effect 
of  contrast  between  groups  of  solo  stringed-instruments 
and  groups  of  massed  stringed-instruments  as  between 
stringed  instruments  and  wind  instruments.  Their 
minds  were  undoubtedly  beguiled  by  the  traditions  of 
their  peculiar  musicianship,  which  still,  notwithstanding 
many  temptations,  regarded  good  free  contrapuntal 
writing  as  the  most  essential  object  of  the  true  artist's 
efforts. 

The  foundations  of  the  harmonic  usage,  which  was 
the  necessary  preliminary  to  the  development  of 
modern  orchestration,  had  been  laid  long  before  Bach's 
time,  and  it  was  mainly  the  helpless  followers  of  tradi- 
tion and  convention  who  at  that  time  were  on  the  side 
of  counterpoint.  Yet  Bach  himself  remained  in  the 
camp  of  the  unconverted,  and  took  little  advantage 
of  the  glimmering  lights  which  already  showed  the  way 
in    the    direction    of    modern    instrumental    art.     To 


/ 


124  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

understand  his  position  in  relation  to  secular  instru- 
mental music  it  is  necessary  to  give  some  attention  to 
the  state  of  that  branch  of  art  in  its  larger  mani- 
festations. 

One  of  the  essential  differences  between  the  old  style 
of  contrapuntal  music  and  the  new  style,  which  grew 
out  of  the  experiments  in  "Nuove  Musiche"  made  at 
the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  was  that 
in  the  earlier  style  the  parts  which  served  as  the 
strands  of  the  contrapuntal  texture  moved,  for  the 
most  part,  step  by  step,  in  the  manner  which  was 
best  adapted  for  voices;  and  the  new  style  recognised 
the  capacities  of  instruments  for  taking  any  inter- 
val required  of  them.  The  composers  who  main- 
tained even  in  their  instrumental  music  the 
methods  of  contrapuntal  art,  with  its  richness  of 
texture,  still  founded  their  parts,  however  florid,  upon 
an  underlying  basis  of  conjunct  motion,  or,  in  simpler 
words,  on  scale  passages,  whereas  the  representatives 
of  the  new  style  soon  fell  into  the  habit  of  basing  their 
passages  on  the  component  notes  of  chords,  in  other 
words,  on  figures  based  on  arpeggios.  It  is  not  to  be 
inferred  that  either  party  restricted  themselves  entirely 
to  one  or  the  other  procedure.  Vivaldi,  for  instance, 
wrote  plenty  of  scale  passages,  and  J.  S.  Bach  wrote 
plenty  of  arpeggios,  but  their  attitude  of  mind  was 
diverse.  The  representatives  of  the  old  order  of  art, 
who  were  mainly  writers  of  organ  music  and  founded 
their  style  upon  the  style  of  organ  music,  thought  of 
their  music  mainly  in  combined  lines;  while  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  new  kind  of  art,  which  was  destined 
to  blossom  into  modern  music,  thought  of  their  art 
in  successions  of  chords.     The  former  kind  of  music 


Cothen  125 

was  better  supplied  with  type  of  musical  idea  and 
artistic  method,  for  it  had  a  longer  tradition  and  had 
been  cultivated  by  a  higher  order  of  composer.  But 
it  did  not  lend  itself  to  orchestration. 

As  before  pointed  out,  the  tendency  was  for  all 
the  instruments  to  be  treated  on  the  same  terms  and 
to  take  parts  like  voice  parts,  and  there  was  little 
recognition  of  their  natural  aptitudes.  The  fact 
that  some  were  better  fitted  for  long  notes  or  slow 
passages,  and  others  for  rapid  passages,  was  not 
conspicuously  recognised,  and  this  partly  because 
scale  passages  and  contrapuntal  treatment  did 
not  lend  themselves  to  such  purposes.  But  music 
mainly  founded  on  chords,  and  containing  passages 
founded  on  arpeggios,  lent  itself  much  more  readily 
to  the  combination  of  instruments  according  to  their 
aptitudes.  For  while  agile  instruments  played  arpeg- 
gios or  passages  founded  on  chords,  the  less  agile  in- 
struments could  hold  on  the  chords  themselves,  and 
supply  a  good  background  of  tone  and  colour.  And  in 
order  to  arrive  at  modern  orchestration  it  was  necessary 
for  music  to  pass  through  a  phase  in  which  wind  instru- 
ments were  to  a  great  extent  used  to  play  holding  notes 
without  any  other  definite  musical  purpose,  as  is  so 
frequently  seen  in  Haydn's  and  Mozart's  symphonies. 
It  was  in  this  way  that  the  cembalo  with  figured  bass 
was  ultimately  rendered  unnecessary.  And  it  was  by 
this  elementary  recognition  of  difference  of  function 
between  one  class  of  instrument  and  another  that  the 
modern  composite  orchestral  style  was  approached. 
In  course  of  time  the  mere  blank  holding  notes  were 
transformed  into  more  definite  types  of  figure  and 
melodic  and  rhythmic  passages  which  were  each  apt 


126  Johann  vSebastian  Bach 

for  the  instrument  which  had  to  play  them;  and  the 
highest  ideal  of  modern  orchestral  style  is  that  in 
which  all  the  different  instruments  supply  such  elements 
of  effect  as  they  are  best  fitted  to  supply,  in  the  terms 
that  are  best  adapted  to  their  capabilities  of  diction. 
This  entails  polyphonic  treatment,  and  thus  practically 
returns  to  the  principles  of  J.  S.  Bach,  but  with  this 
difference — that  the  things  which  the  different  instru- 
ments now  have  to  do  are  specially  consonant  with 
their  aptitudes,  and  not,  as  in  J.  S.  Bach's  works,  mere 
general  types  of  figure  or  passage  which  were  made  to 
serve  for  all  instruments  alike. 

It  must  appear  from  this  that  Bach's  manner  of 
writing  for  a  large  group  of  instruments  of  different 
calibres  belonged  to  an  order  of  art  which  was  more 
primitive  and  less  in  touch  with  the  inevitable  progress 
of  art  than  the  works  of  Italian  composers  of  his  time 
and  those  who  followed  them.  This,  indeed,  is  con- 
sistent with  what  has  before  been  said  of  the  general 
character  of  his  artistic  work,  and  the  reasons  are  the 
same.  It  always  happens  that  when  men  attempt  a 
new  departure  in  art  they  have  to  go  back  to  a  much 
lov/er  level  both  of  intrinsic  and  of  artistic  interest, until 
they  have  developed  a  mass  of  new  methods  and  re- 
sources. The  new  kind  of  art  was  making  progress 
and  Handel  maybe  said  to  have  occasionally  employed 
it  to  good  purpose,  as,  for  instance,  in  such  an  unlikely 
line  as  his  organ  concertos;  and  Alessandro  Scarlatti 
had  also  shown  many  premonitions  of  its  possibil- 
ities, if  indeed  he  might  not  be  described  as  the  first 
notable  composer  to  divine  the  essentials  of  orchestral 
music. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  composers  of  the  new  kind 


Cothen  127 

of  music  were  always  at  their  worst  when  they  were 
exploring  the  new  paths,  and  whether  it  was  Handel  or 
Alessandro  or  Domenico  Scarlatti  or  Vivaldi  or  Pachel- 
bel,  whenever  they  are  found  writing  anything  genu- 
inely interesting  and  full  of  life,  they  are  found  to  have 
reverted  to  the  old  polyphonic  methods. 

The  new  style  was  not  adequate  either  for  the  ex- 
pression of  ideas  such  as  John  Sebastian's,  or  for 
interest  of  artistic  treatment  such  as  a  man  with  such  a 
supreme  artistic  instinct  would  find  indispensable.  In 
this  respect  the  individuality  of  the  man  counts 
for  much.  It  was  possible  for  a  man  of  talent  to 
be  satisfied  with  a  trend  of  art  which  did  not  give 
him  much  artistic  scope,  as  long  as  his  own  instinct 
did  not  demand  much  of  him,  or  when  his  test  was 
whether  he,  as  a  public  man,  satisfied  his  patrons — 
which  was  certainly  the  main  consideration  with 
Italian  opera  composers  of  the  time.  But  J.  S.  Bach 
was  not,  in  this  sense,  a  public  man,  and  what  he 
gave  to  the  world  had  first  to  satisfy  him  as  adequate. 
And  this  could  not  be  done  in  the  new  style  for  the 
simple  reason  that  it  was  impossible.  He  therefore 
took  the  only  course  which  afforded  him  adequate 
scope  for  his  individual  artistic  aspirations  with  any 
chance  of  satisfying  his  high  sense  of  responsibility. 

This  applied  to  such  a  detail  as  orchestral  method  as 
well  as  to  the  general  question  of  polyphonic  or  har- 
monic method.  He  occasionally  made  experiments 
in  the  harmonic  method,  and  infused  something  of  his 
personality  into  the  products,  but  they  are  not  the  most 
convincing  examples  of  his  work.  In  the  Brandenburg 
concertos  there  are  hardly  any  anticipations  of  modern 
orchestration.     Such  a  simple  thing  as  the  wind  instru- 


128  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

ments  being  employed  to  sustain  tone  and  to  solidify 
the  whole  is  hardly  found  in  them  anywhere.  Indeed, 
almost  the  only  place  in  which  the  effect  is  employed  is 
in  the  first  movement  of  the  second  concerto,  and  then 
it  is  not  the  wind  instruments  that  have  holding  notes 
but  the  strings,  and  the  wind  have  to  bustle  about  in 
the  same  semiquaver  passages  which  are  elsewhere 
given  to  the  strings,  making  a  kind  of  cackle  which  may 
fairly  be  described  as  primitive! 

But  though  Bach  in  these  remarkable  works  stead- 
fastly clings  to  the  old  polyphonic  methods,  it  cannot 
be  said  he  is  not  enterprising  and  speculative.  Every 
concerto  shows  a  great  variety  of  novel  and  striking 
inventiveness,  both  in  scheme  and  effect.  The  prin- 
ciple on  which  early  concertos  were  devised,  of  con- 
trasting a  group  of  solo  instruments  with  the  ''tutti," 
a  mass  of  accompanying  instruments,  appears  in  a 
new  guise,  mainly  the  result  of  the  original  selection 
of  the  instruments  better  adapted  to  be  used  as  solo 
instruments,  or  in  pairs,  than  in  masses. 

In  the  first  movement  of  the  first  concerto  there 
is  plenty  of  merry  banter  between  the  solo  instru- 
ments and  the  tutti  in  short  passages,  but  the 
effect  in  general  is  rich  and  full  and  is  gained  by 
almost  persistent  employment  of  the  tutti.  The 
second  movement  is  a  development  and  expansion 
of  a  type  which  is  met  with  in  Vivaldi's  concertos, 
being  a  kind  of  ornate  expressive  song  simply  ac- 
companied by  the  tutti.  But  its  interest  is  enhanced 
by  its  being  made  a  duet  between  the  hautboy  and 
the  solo  violino-piccolo — and  it  may  be  mentioned  in 
connection  with  what  has  been  said  above  of  the  lack 
of  differentiation  between  the  music  allotted  to  instru- 


Cothen  129 

ments  of  diflferent  types,  that  both  instruments  have 
to  deal  with  identical  passages  and  passages  of  abso- 
lutely the  same  type,  without  any  attempt  to  give 
them  passages  which  are  specially  illustrative  of  their 
idiosyncrasies.  The  work  ends  with  a  group  of  dance 
tunes  of  delightful  quality,  in  which  most  entertaining 
effects  are  obtained  by  special  grouping  of  instruments. 
The  trio  to  the  minuet  is  scored  for  two  hautboys  and 
a  bassoon;  a  delightful  polacca  is  scored  for  strings 
alone,  and  has  a  trio  for  two  horns  with  hautboys 
for  the  bass — all  gay  and  playful. 

The  limitations  of  the  trumpet  cause  the  subject  of 
the  first  movement  of  the  second  concerto  to  have 
rather  an  Italian  air,  as  it  was  inevitable  to  base  the 
passages  allotted  to  it  mainly  on  the  component  notes 
of  a  chord;  otherwise  that  instrument  does  its  best  to 
play  the  same  type  of  passages  as  the  violins.  The 
middle  movement  is  a  kind  of  quartet  between  the 
flute,  hautboy,  violin,  and  'cello;  and  the  last  a  showy 
movement  in  which  the  trumpet  figures  very  gaily, 
and  has  a  part  which  is  almost  unplayable  in  modern 
times  owing  to  the  extreme  altitude  to  which  it  is 
called  upon  to  rise. 

The  third  concerto  is  much  the  most  remarkable  of 
the  group,  as  it  really  departs  from  the  old  conception 
of  concertos  and  depends  upon  the  remarkably  rich 
effects  which  can  be  obtained  by  having  three  groups 
of  three  instruments — that  is  three  violins,  three  violas, 
and  three  'cellos — with  double  bass  and  continuo  to 
add  to  the  sonority.  The  grouping  of  three  instru- 
ments is  maintained  almost  invariably  throughout 
with  astonishing  effect,  so  that  the  chord-passages  of 
one  group  are  constantly  pitted   against  the  chord- 


130  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

passages  of  another  group,  except  where  for  variety 
and  sonorous  enforcement  of  some  characteristic  idea 
the  three  like  instruments  are  massed  in  unison.  The 
artistic  conception  is  superb  and  superbly  carried 
out,  especially  in  the  first  movement.  There  is  no 
slow  movement,  but  only  two  long  sustained  chords 
between  the  first  and  the  brilliant  last  movement. 
This  latter  is  in  -V^-  time  and  most  vivacious,  but 
not  so  interesting  as  the  first,  as  it  has  less  variety 
and  less  genuine  force  in  the  subject  matter. 

The  main  feature  of  the  fourth  concerto  is  the 
extremely  brilliant  part  for  the  solo  violin,  which  is 
attended  by  two  ''echo  flutes"  or  "flutes  a  bee."  The 
work  of  the  ''tutti"  instruments,  especially  in  the 
first  movement,  is  unusually  subordinate.  The  fifth 
concerto  is  notable  again  for  a  remarkably  brilliant 
solo  part  for  the  clavier,  which  in  its  turn  has  a 
flauto  traverso  and  a  solo  violin  as  attendants.  There 
is  indeed  an  enormously  long  passage  of  the  most  bril- 
liant description  for  the  keyed  instrument,  unaccom- 
panied, with  every  device  of  execution  embodied  in  it, 
illustrating  Bach's  extraordinary  inventiveness  in  the 
line  of  virtuosity,  not  for  itself  but  as  a  means  of  ex- 
pressing musical  ideas,  and  of  course,  in  this  instance, 
departing  from  the  rule  of  making  all  the  instruments 
play  similar  passages;  for  a  great  cembalo  player  like 
Bach  could  hardly  be  contented  with  setting  down 
anything  for  it  which  any  other  instrument  could 
play.  The  slow  movement  is  a  very  expressive  trio 
between  the  cembalo,  the  flute  and  the  solo  violin, 
marked  auspiciously  and  suggestively  "affettuoso/' 
and  full  of  elaboration  of  beautifully  conceived  figures 
beautifully  interwoven.     Bach  was  evidently  in  the 


Cothen  131 

humour  for  expression  at  the  time  he  wrote  this 
concerto,  as  the  last  movement,  in  f  time,  has  many 
directions  for  interpretation,  among  which  the  word 
"cantabile"  frequently  occurs. 

The  sixth  and  last  concerto  is  a  kind  of  mysterious 
counterpart  to  the  third  concerto;  as  the  singular 
grouping  of  two  violas,  two  viole  da  gamba  and  a  'cello 
and  bass,  prefigures.  The  colour  is  weird  and  pictur- 
esque throughout,  and  the  subject  m.atter  such  as  befits 
the  unusual  group  of  instruments  employed.  The  two 
groups  of  instruments  maintain  their  apposition  to  a 
great  extent  in  the  first  movement.  In  the  second  the 
gambas  remain  silent,  and  they  have  not  much  to  do  in 
the  last,  which  must  be  admitted  to  be  more  perfunc- 
tory than  the  first;  as  though  it  had  dawned  upon  the 
composer's  mind  that  the  strange  colour  of  the  instru- 
ment tended  to  become  monotonous;  and  this  impelled 
him  to  rely  rather  upon  general  animation  and  the 
body  of  tone  supplied  by  the  copious  use  of  the  'cello. 

This  group  of  works  illustrates,  like  many  another, 
the  singular  extent  to  which  Bach  allowed  himself  to 
be  guided  by  his  opportunities.  The  invitation  of  the 
Markgraf  afforded  him  one,  and  he  made  ample  use 
of  it;  and  though  it  can  be  read  in  the  works  themselves 
that  he  enjoyed  the  com. position  of  them,  and  though 
the  works  were  by  far  the  finest  of  their  kind  produced  in 
that  generation,  yet,  inasmuch  as  no  fresh  opportunity 
offered,  he  never  again  wrote  works  of  the  same  kind. 
Sometimes  his  impulse  seemed  to  lead  him  to  follow 
up  a  newly  attempted  form  of  art  by  many  works  of  a 
like  kind,  and  to  go  on  exploring  the  new  paths. 
Sometimes  he  contented  himself  with  producing  the 
finest  examples  in  some  form  of  art  that  he  had  not 


132  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

before  attempted  and  then  passed  on  to  something  else. 
The  paradoxes  force  themselves  on  the  attention.  It 
is  possible  that  the  Brandenburg  concertos  were  never 
played  in  his  lifetime,  except  in  such  fragments  as  he 
transferred  to  other  works.  They  just  went  into  the 
Markgraf  s  celebrated  collection  and  there  was  an  end 
of  it.  At  any  rate,  they  were  quite  unknown.  When 
the  collection  was  sold  at  the  Markgraf's  death,  the 
catalogue  took  special  notice  of  concertos  by  all  sorts 
of  popular  composers  of  the  day  whose  names  are  now 
naturally  forgotten;  and  Bach's  were  not  even  men- 
tioned by  name,  but  were  sold  with  all  the  stuff  con- 
sidered of  no  value  in  what  are  called  the  "job  lots." 

Though  Bach  did  not  again  experiment  with  orches- 
tral concertos  of  this  kind,  he  wrote  a  very  large  number 
of  concertos  for  solo  instruments  and  groups  of  solo 
instruments,  which  may  be  serviceably  referred  to  in 
this  place,  though  they  may  have  been  composed  at 
all  periods  in  his  life.  Most  of  these  accord  more 
nearly  with  the  modern  idea  of  concertos,  and  it  is 
worth  while  to  consider  how  much  share  Bach  had 
in  turning  the  course  of  events  in  that  direction. 

As  has  been  said,  the  original  idea  of  the  concerto 
did  not  include  the  extreme  prominence  of  the  solo 
instrument;  but  the  ultimate  consummation  of  the 
modern  type  was  inevitable.  The  tendency  is  pre- 
figured even  in  the  fifth  Brandenburg  concerto,  in 
which  the  clavier  is  allowed  to  have  the  field  to  itself 
for  considerable  spaces  of  time.  And  when  later  Bach 
wrote  concertos  for  clavier  and  for  two  and  more 
claviers  with  orchestral  accompaniment,  it  was  in- 
evitable that  the  individuality  of  the  solo  instruments 
should  be  more  and  more  emphasised,  because  Bach's 


Cothen  133 

impulse,  begotten  of  ample  experience,  necessarily  im- 
pelled him  to  get  the  utmost  elTect  out  of  the  passages 
which  the  performers  had  to  play  alone,  and  this  could 
not  be  effected  without  giving  them  a  conspicuous 
share  in  the  proceedings.  The  tendency  in  the  modern 
direction  was  more  noticeable  in  concertos  for  claviers 
than  in  concertos  for  violins  or  wind  instruments,  be- 
cause the  clavier  was  so  much  better  adapted  to  play 
solo  passages  without  the  orchestra. 

It  seems  probable  that  the  violin  concertos  were 
written  in  the  Cothen  period,  and  they  are  more  akin 
to  the  Vivaldi  type.    The  claims  on  the  soloist  are 
not  very  exacting,  though  the  violin  has  interesting 
work  to  cope  with,  and  the  functions  of  the  orchestra 
are  not  so  subordinate  as  in   the  clavier  concertos. 
Both  the  concertos  for  violin  solo,  in  A  minor  and  E 
major  are,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  works  of  the  most  de- 
lightful quality.     They  are  cast  on  the  Italian  lines, 
with  quick  movements  first  and  last  and  a  slow  move- 
ment in  the  middle,  and  the  style  is  simple,  direct, 
and  melodious.     The  quick  movements  are  essentially 
practical  in  their  relation  to  an  average  audience,  and 
the  slow  movements  are  of  supreme  beauty  and  inter- 
est.    In  the  latter  Bach  adopts  his  favourite  device 
of  using  characteristic  figures  in  the  accompaniment, 
which  in  these  cases  are  given  mainly  to  the  basses.     It 
is  worth  while  to  note  their  kinship  in  this  particular 
with  the  wonderful  slow  movement  of  the  Italian  con- 
certo.    But  in  both  the  present  instances  Bach's  cue  is 
definite  and  special,  and  gives  the  scheme  a  distinct 
character  of  its  own.     What  was  most  probably  in  his 
mind  was  to  make  the  subject  which  is  given  to  the 
basses  a  kind  of  text  or  psychological  entity  which 


134  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

recurred  persistently  in  the  manner  of  what  the  French 
call  happily  an  "obsession''  to  which  the  violin  solo 
constantly  discourses  in  answer,  as  though  arguing  the 
contention  of  the  basses  from  different  points  of  view. 
The  slow  movement  of  the  E  major  concerto  might 
even  be  compared  with  the  *' dialogues"  in  the 
cantatas,  or  perhaps  even  more  aptly  with  the  slow 
movement  of  Beethoven's  concerto  in  G.  The 
great  fascination  which  such  movements  exercise  over 
people  who  are  not  essentially  musical  (as  well 
as  over  those  who  are  musical  as  well  as  poetical) 
lies  in  the  fact  that  the  form  is  psychological 
rather  than  essentially  musical.  The  form  is  of  the 
spirit  rather  than  the  letter.  Bach  spent  a  great  part 
of  his  life  feeling  his  way  in  this  direction,  and  never 
till  his  last  days  quite  made  up  his  mind  whether  the 
usual  mechanical  view  of  form  (the  view  based  on 
distribution  of  keys  and  themes),  or  the  view  which 
puts  the  psychological  scheme  in  the  forefront,  was  the 
right  one.  But  it  is  in  his  wonderful  slow  movements 
that  he  reveals  the  actual  intention  to  use  music  as  the 
vehicle  of  psychological  concepts,  and  touches  the 
fringe  of  the  question,  which  was  due  to  excite  so  much 
attention  a  century  and  a  half  later,  of  programme 
music.  The  adagio  movement  in  the  violin  concerto 
in  E  is  particularly  illuminative  in  this  sense,  and  has 
even  a  dramatic  character,  owing  to  the  very  definite 
manner  in  which  the  dialogue  is  carried  on.  In  the 
well-known  concerto  in  D  minor  for  two  violins  and 
orchestra  the  slow  movement  is  again,  by  a  very  long 
way,  the  most  attractive  feature  of  the  work.  It  is 
quite  possible  that  it  stands  absolutely  in  the  front 
rank  of  all  Bach's  movements  whose  reason  of  exist- 


Cothen  135 

ence  is  pure  beautiful  melody.  But  in  this  case  the 
psychological  element  is  not  so  much  in  evidence. 
Bach's  mind  was  not  in  this  case  moved  by  the  possi- 
bilities of  such  a  contrast  as  that  between  the  basses 
and  the  solo  violin  in  the  other  concertos,  but  by  the 
aesthetical  possibilities  of  alternation  between  two 
solo  violins,  in  which  the  cue  would  not  be  so  much  in 
apposition  or  contrast,  but  in  sisterly  discourse.  Here 
is  a  case  in  which  Bach,  probably  unconsciously,  was 
carried  by  the  force  of  circumstances  in  the  direction  of 
the  modern  conception  of  the  concerto,  for  in  making 
use  of  the  qualities  of  the  two  solo  violins  ample 
material  was  supplied  for  the  development  of  the 
whole  movement,  and  consequently  the  orchestra  comes 
to  occupy  a  very  subordinate  and  insignificant  position, 
mainly  contenting  itself  with  supplying  the  harmonies 
and  indicating  the  rhythmic  pulse.  In  the  quick 
movements  the  soli  and  the  tutti  resume  more  or 
less  the  normal  relations  of  the  concerto  of  that  time. 
Both  movements  are  animated  and  direct  and  serve 
sufficiently  well  as  preface  and  after-word  to  the  slow 
movement,  with  just  the  same  functions  as  the  first 
and  last  movements  in  the  Italian  Concerto  for  clavier, 
to  be  discussed  later. 

The  aptitude  of  the  violin  for  expressive  melody 
induced  the  composition  of  many  movements  of  extra- 
ordinary beauty  like  those  in  the  concertos.  The 
qualities  of  the  clavier  moved  Bach  in  a  different 
manner.  He  was  very  urgent  about  executing  melodi- 
ous phrases  in  a  cantabile  manner  on  that  instrument, 
and  not  infrequently  essayed  movements  of  a  song-like 
character  for  it;  but  for  the  most  part  the  influence  of 
the  keyed  instrument  was  more  in  an  abstract  direc- 


136  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

tion,  suggesting  purely  artistic  developments.  It  would 
be  hard  to  find  more  suggestive  contrasts  than  such  as 
are  presented  between  the  slow  movements  of  the 
violin  concertos  and  those  in  the  fine  concertos  for 
two  claviers  in  C  and  C  minor.  The  latter  were  prob- 
ably written  later  in  life  and  present  the  tokens  of 
much  more  spacious  development  and  more  maturity 
of  style,  especially  in  the  quick  movements;  and  in 
these  cases  the  order  of  merit  is  reversed,  for  the  slow 
movements  are  of  less  appealing  quality  than  the  quick 
movements.  Bach  in  these  cases  laid  hold  of  the 
rhythmic  capacity  of  the  keyed  instrument  and  the 
opportunity  which  the  activity  of  so  large  a  number  of 
human  fingers  afforded  for  producing  rich  effects  and 
giving  the  impression  of  great  fulness  of  tone.  The  dif- 
ferences may  be  summarised  in  the  sense  that  the  violin 
is  superbly  suggestive  for  melody  and  the  clavier 
specially  adapted  for  part-writing;  so  when  Bach 
writes  slow  movements  for  the  clavier  he  makes 
them  serve  as  phases  of  contrast  to  the  quick 
movements,  in  which  some  rather  abstract  melody 
is  discussed  with  a  certain  aloofness  of  manner,  or 
treated  with  elaborate  ornamentation,  such  as  was 
.more  suited  to  the  instrument  than  passages  of  sus- 
tained melody  pure  and  simple.  The  alternative  pre- 
sented in  the  admirable  concerto  for  the  clavier  in  D 
minor  is  to  give  a  Siciliano  in  place  of  the  central  slow 
movement,  a  course  which  provides  a  type  of  melody 
well  adapted  to  the  limited  sustaining  power  of  the 
harpsichord. 

Bach  does  not  seem  to  have  been  so  much  attracted 
to  the  composition  of  concertos  for  a  single  clavier  with 
orchestra,  and  he  did  not  write  many  original  works 


Cothen  137 

in  that  form.  The  finest  of  them  is  that  in  D  minor 
above  mentioned,  which  from  its  style  would  appear 
to  have  been  written  at  Cothen.  in  all  the  con- 
certos for  clavier,  whether  for  one  instrument  or 
many,  there  are  passages  for  the  solo  instrument 
unaccompanied  which  anticipate  the  procedure  of 
modern  concertos,  with  considerable  use  of  arpeggios, 
and  even  occasional  cadenza  passages.  Bach  fol- 
lows the  Italian  types  in  the  general  scheme  and 
easy  style  of  the  quick  movements,  and  they  are 
rather  homophonic  in  feeling,  with  the  exception  of  the 
last  movement  of  the  double  concerto  in  C  major, 
which  is  a  fugue  of  a  most  vivacious  description.  It 
certainly  gains  by  being  cast  in  a  form  which  was 
so  congenial,  as  it  is  quite  one  of  the  most  effective 
and  delightful  of  all  the  quick  movements,  and 
has  a  cadence-passage  developed  on  the  basis  of  the 
final  clause  of  the  fugue  subject  which  is  positively 
exhilarating,  and  most  characteristic  of  the  composer, 
in  which  a  small  nucleus  is  expanded  into  a  passage  of 
considerable  proportions.  Bach  clearly  enjoyed  writing 
in  the  concerto  form  and  found  it  congenial.  It  would 
be  even  natural  to  infer  that  he  found  opportunities 
for  performing  the  works,  as  in  many  cases  the  same 
concertos  appear  in  versions  both  for  violin  and  clavier. 
Both  the  concertos  for  violin  and  that  for  two  violins 
exist  for  claviers,  and  transposed — the  concerto  in  A 
minor  into  G  minor,  the  concerto  in  E  into  D,  and  the 
double  concerto  in  D  minor  for  two  claviers  in  C  minor. 
He  also  made  a  clavier  concerto  in  F  out  of  the  fourth 
Brandenburg  concerto,  which  is  in  G. 

In  the  same  year  in  which  John  Sebastian  completed 
the  six  concertos  through  which  the  name  of  Christian 


138  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

Ludwig,  Markgraf  of  Brandenburg,  is  still  known  to  the 
musical  world,  he  took  the  very  important  step  of 
marrying  a  second  time.  His  first  wife  had  been 
dead  little  over  a  year,  but  the  sane,  wholesome 
humanity  of  the  Bach  family  predisposed  them  to 
domestic  life,  and  the  tenderness  and  warm-hearted- 
ness which  can  be  so  amply  read  in  the  composer's 
works  made  him  need  one  fully  sympathetic  being 
in  his  home  life,  upon  whom  he  could  bestow  the 
full  measure  of  his  affection.  The  matter  brings 
into  relief  the  individual  character  of  the  man 
which  has  been  before  insisted  upon.  If  he  had 
been  a  public  man  like  Handel,  married  life  would  have 
been  more  or  less  a  superfluity.  But  John  Sebastian 
was  never  at  any  period  of  his  life  much  of  a  public 
man.  The  centre  of  his  life  was  not  the  concert  room 
or  the  theatre,  but  the  home,  where  he  must  have  been 
constantly  at  work  writing  the  truly  enormous  mass 
of  compositions  upon  which  he  concentrated  his  atten- 
tion, and  which  he  often  rewrote  again  and  again  to 
bring  them  up  to  his  highest  conception  of  perfection. 
And  for  the  completion  of  the  home  circle  to  a  man  of 
__Jlis  temperament  a  wife  was  a  very  important  adjunct. 
His  second  wife,  Anna  Magdalena,  came  from  Weis- 
senfels,  where  her  father,  Johann  Caspar  Wulcken, 
was  court  trumpeter.  She  was  only  twenty-one  years 
old,  and  therefore  fifteen  years  younger  than  John 
Sebastian.  But  little  more  in  detail  is  known  of  their 
domestic  circumstances  than  there  is  in  his  first  wife's 
time,  but  a  number  of  side  lights  illuminate  their  re- 
lations most  happily.  There  is  no  doubt  that  she  was 
extremely  musical.  She  not  only  played  on  the  clavier, 
but  she  sang  and  had  been  a  court  singer  at  Cothen 


Cothen  139 

before  her  marriage.  She  also  wrote  a  very  good 
musical  hand,  and  did  a  good  deal  of  copying  for  her 
husband,  both  of  his  own  works  and  those  of  other 
composers — such  as  Handel,  a  great  part  of  wiiose 
Passion  to  the  text  of  Brocke  was  written  out  by  her. 

He,  in  his  turn,  delighted  in  developing  her  musical 
aptitudes,  and  one  of  the  first  works  to  which  he  gave 
his  mind  after  their  marriage  was  a  collection  of  pieces 
for  her  to  play,  which  is  known  by  the  name  of 
"Clavier-Bijchlein  vor  Anna  Magdalena  Bachin,"  the 
date  of  1722  also  being  on  the  MS.  Bach  himself 
playfully  described  the  contents  as  '' anii  CalvinismnSy 
und  Christen  Sclmle,  item  anii  Melancholiciis,"  which  is 
interpreted  as  a  little  hit  at  the  unsympathetic  attitude 
of  the  Pietists  towards  music. 

There  is  something  specially  attractive  about  the 
idea  of  Bach's  making  this  collection  of  pieces  for  his 
young  wife  to  play,  and  the  spirit  of  the  works  them- 
selves seems  to  suggest  the  tenderest  and  most  loving 
relations  between  them,  for  the  contents  consist  mainly 
of  five  of  the  groups  of  pieces  known  to  the  world  in 
later  times  as  the  French  Suites.  They  were  not  called 
by  that  name  then,  possibly  never  at  all  by  Bach  him- 
self. It  has  been  suggested  that  they  somehow  got 
the  name  in  view  of  their  compactness  and  slightness; 
and  it  might  be  added  that  the  dexterous  delicacy  of 
their  artistic  treatment  in  detail  and  spirit  and  even 
a  little  daintiness,  have  something  akin  to  the  tradi- 
tional idea  of  French  art.  It  is  the  latter  qualities, 
indeed,  which  suggest  the  charming  relations  between 
Bach  and  Anna  Magdalena,  and  it  is  difficult  not 
to  hope,  at  least,  that  the  suites  were  actually 
written   for    her  in   this   very   early   period   of    their 


I40  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

married  life.  In  this  connection  it  might  be,  per- 
haps, objected  that  it  is  odd  that  the  first  three 
are  in  minor  modes,  D  minor,  C  minor,  and  B 
minor.  Bach's  course  in  such  a  case  would  have 
been  purely  spontaneous.  His  instinct  most  subtly 
and  rightly  told  him  to  oiTer  what  was  serious  and 
interesting  first  of  all,  and  to  come  to  the  sparkling 
and  the  gay  last.  It  seems  almost  superfluous 
to  recall  that  human  creatures  do  not  take  kindly 
to  the  grave  after  the  gay,  but  they  do  very 
willingly  turn  from  the  grave  to  the  gay.  But  at  any 
rate  the  movements  in  minor  mode  are  not  sad  or 
gloomy.  The  sarabande  in  the  first  suite  is,  no  doubt, 
in  a  vein  of  acute  yearning  and  passionate  intensity 
which  must  be  admitted  to  have  an  element  of  deep 
sadness  in  it.  But  surrounded  as  it  is  with  movements 
of  dainty  and  pleasing  character,  it  might  be  taken 
that  for  a  moment  the  composer  was  asking  his  wife- 
pupil  to  commune  with  him  in  deeper  thoughts,  and 
the  gay  little  minuet  that  instantly  follows  conveys 
in  the  subtlest  fashion  a  return  to  the  normal  standard 
of  intercourse. 

Many  and  various  are  the  moods  suggested  in  the 
first  four  Suites,  all  in  the  main  gravitating  in  the 
direction  of  demureness;  the  fifth  is  of  totally 
different  complexion.  It  may  be  doubted  if  Bach 
ever  wrote  a  work  more  completely  serene,  happy, 
and  sparkling.  The  pure  murmuring  beauty  of 
the  allemande,  the  gay  rush  of  the  courante,  the 
dignified  strength  of  the  sarabande,  the  sparkling 
vivacity  of  the  gavotte  and  the  bourree  (which 
has  made  the  first  one  of  Bach's  most  popular 
little   movements),    the    truly    wonderful    and    inno- 


Cothen  141 

cent  tenderness  of  the  loure,  and  the  supreme  merri- 
ment and  animation  of  the  gigue,  make  the  whole 
series  one  of  the  most  perfect  httie  works  of  art  in 
grouping,  texture,  spirit,  and  artistic  finish  ever  pro- 
duced by  J.  S.  Bach.  If  the  quality  of  these  works 
truly  prefigured  Bach's  feelings  towards  his  wife  at 
this  time,  their  married  life  had  indeed  an  auspicious 
beginning. 

From  the  technical  point  of  view  the  scheme  of  the 
Suites  is  of  that  particular  type  of  orthodoxy  which 
Bach  himself  did  most  to  establish.  The  history  of  the 
gradual  growth  of  the  form  by  the  process  of  elimination 
is  at  once  complicated,  interesting,  and  clear.  Be- 
ginning with  the  pavans  and  galliards,  in  the  Eliza- 
bethan and  Jacobean  times,  progressing  with  the 
association  of  other  movements  with  them,  the  grad- 
ual dropping  out  of  the  primitive  couple  (the  pavan 
in  the  Restoration  music  in  England  being  associated 
with  the  later  group  for  a  time  as  a  kind  of  prelude, 
and  then  finally  disappearing),  and  the  sifting  and 
survival  of  the  fittest — this  history  must  be  read 
elsewhere.  It  may  be  added  that  composers  adopted 
extremely  divergent  courses,  either  experimenting 
conscientiously  with  groups  which  gravitated  to- 
wards assimilation,  or  trying  wild  experiments  in 
the  juxtaposition  of  erratic  components,  as  in 
Rogers's  "Nine  Muses,"  or  Couperin's  most  amusing 
"Fastes  de  la  grande  et  ancienne  Menestrandise." 
Bach,  in  some  ways  one  of  the  most  venturesome 
of  composers,  was  in  other  ways  most  deliberate 
and  respectful  to  tradition  in  its  deepest  sense — 
that  is,  in  the  sense  of  its  representing  the  eflorts 
of    a    vast     number    of     co-operating     intelligences 


142  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

seeking  the  solution  of  interesting  problems.  The 
orthodox  scheme,  allemande,  courante,  sarabande,  and 
gigue,  had  not  as  yet  been  propounded  as  a  special 
revelation.  Like  everything  else,  it  was  in  more  or 
less  of  an  inchoate  and  uncertain  state  when  he  came 
upon  the  scene.  His  studies  of  forms  of  art  of  all 
countries  had  brought  him  into  contact  with  a  variety 
of  formulas  more  or  less  approximating  to  this,  and 
evidently  manifesting  a  greater  weight  of  opinion  in  its 
favour  than  any  other.  So  he  himself  submitted  it  to 
the  test,  adding  only  such  little  ''Galanterien"  as  were 
always  allowed  before  the  final  gigue,  and  gave  it  the 
fiat  of  his  judgment  in  the  vast  majority  of  works 
which  he  wrote  in  the  Suite  form. 

This  series  of  Suites  in  the  "Clavier  Biichlein"  (to 
which  Bach  afterwards  added  another  charming  ex- 
ample in  E  major  to  make  up  the  number  to  his  fa- 
vourite group  of  six)  is,  apparently,  the  first  group  of 
such  works  which  he  brought  together.  Their  con- 
ciseness and  the  absence  of  any  prelude  in  all  the  Suites 
may  have  been  owing  to  a  wish  not  to  overburden  his 
beloved  pupil.  It  must  be  added  that  the  work  illus- 
trates a  trait  of  Bach's  personal  disposition  which  is  less 
serviceable  to  posterity.  He  shared  with  Michael 
Angelo  an  aptitude  for  leaving  things  unfinished;  and 
of  extra  pieces  which  are  contained  in  the  book  over 
and  above  the  Suites,  a  "fantasia  pro  organo''  in  C 
comes  to  an  abrupt  stop  after  a  dozen  bars;  and  a  prom- 
ising aria  in  C  minor  has  only  a  slender  accompaniment 
for  about  eight  bars,  and  for  the  rest  of  a  long  movement 
offers  nothing  but  the  melody.  Beyond  these  there 
is  a  charming  little  minuet,  transferred  from  Friede- 
mann's  book,  and  a  beautifully  ornate  "Orgelchorale" 


Cothcn  143 

for  the  clavier  on  the  tune  Jesus,  meine  Zuversicht, 
and  this  completes  the  entire  contents  of  the  "Clavier- 
Blichlein"  of  1722. 

A  few  years  later,  in  1725,  another  collection  was 
made,  which  was  even  more  interesting  than  the  first. 
Part  of  it  was  very  likely  made  by  Anna  Magdalena 
herself,  as  no  inconsiderable  portion  of  the  volume  is 
occupied  by  a  number  of  little  minuets,  polonaises, 
and  other  short  movements  in  her  own  handwriting, 
which  seem  likely  to  have  been  favourites  of  hers.  The 
more  imposing  works  in  the  volume  are  two  more  Suites, 
the  movements  of  which  were  ultimately  included  in 
two  of  the  Partitas  which  Bach  himself  printed  in  the 
first  volume  of  the  "Claviertibung"  (see  p.  456).  These, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  are  rather  more  difficult  and  are  on 
a  larger  scale  than  the  Suites  included  in  the  first  book, 
and  both  of  them  have  preludes,  of  which  that  to  the 
E  minor  Partita  is  on  a  very  extensive  scale,  suggesting 
progress  in  Anna  Magdalena's  efficiency  as  a  performer. 
The  collection  also  contains  the  first  prelude,  in  C,  of 
the  "Wohltemperirtes  Clavier,"  which,  in  a  much 
shorter  form,  had  already  appeared  in  Friedemann's 
"Biichlein,"  the  whole  of  the  first  so-called  French 
Suite,  and  part  of  the  second,  which  breaks  off  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  sarabande,  leaving  it,  like  two  of 
the  pieces  in  the  first  book,  incomplete. 

But  most  interesting  of  all  are  k  number  of  little 
songs  for  soprano  voice,  most  of  which  Bach  probably 
wrote  for  his  wife.  About  one,  the  beautiful  simple  air 
Wilht  du  dein  Heri  mir  schenken,  there  has  been 
much  difference  of  opinion  as  to  whether  it  is  by  Bach 
himself,  or  (as  is  for  some  reason  argued)  by  an  almost 
unknown  composer  Guglielmi.     Of  the  others  there  is 


144  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

little  doubt  that  they  were  by  Bach.  The  beautiful 
aria  "Schlummert  ein"  presents  a  curious  enigma.  It 
was  evidently  written  for  Anna  Magdalena  herself,  but 
though  there  are  two  copies  of  it  in  the  book,  one  has 
no  accompaniment  at  all,  and  the  accompaniment  of  the 
other  stops  and  becomes  a  blank  long  before  the  end 
of  the  song.  But  the  strange  fact  is  that  it  is  not  lost, 
for  in  a  fme  cantata  for  bass  voice  of  many  years 
later  it  makes  its  appearance  again,  with  the  accom- 
paniment completed  for  strings  (see  p.  433).  To  two 
of  the  songs  a  personal  interest  is  attached;  for  one 
is  about  his  pipe  and  his  tobacco;  and  the  poem, 
most  probably  by  the  composer  himself,  combines  with 
a  playful  mood  a  serious  reflection, — a  process  very 
characteristic  of  the  author: 

So  oft  ich  meine  Tabaks-pfeife 
Mit  gutem  Knaster  angefiillt 
Zur  Lust  und  Zeitvertreib  ergreife 
So  giebt  sie  mir  ein  Trauer-bild, 
Und  fiiget  diese  Lehre  bei, 
Dass  ich  derselben  ahnlich  sei. 

The  other  is  a  tender  little  poem  addressed  to  his 
wife: 

Bist  du  bei  mir,  geh'  ich  mit  Freuden 
Zum  Sterben  und  zu  meiner  Ruh', 
Ach,  wie  vergniigt  war  so  mein  Ende, 
Es  driickten  deine  schonen  Hande 
Mir  die  getreuen  Augen  zu. 

The  book  also  contains  the  sarabande  which  later 
served  as  the  theme  of  the  "Goldberg  Variations"  (see 
p.  474)  and  some  songs,  and  concludes  with  the  chorale 
0  Ewigkeit,  du  Donnerwort! 


Cothcn  145 

But  between  the  times  when  these  two  interesting 
little  collections  made  their  appearance  Bach  com- 
pleted another  collection  which  has  been  the  greatest 
delight  of  musicians  of  after  times.  About  the  date 
of  this  there  can  be  no  manner  of  doubt,  as  it  appears 
on  the  written  title-page,  which  runs  as  follows: 

"Das  wohl  temperirte  Clavier  oder  Pra?ludia  und  Fugen 
durch  alle  Tone  und  Semitonia  sowohl  tertiani  niajorem  oder 
Ut  Re  Mi  anlangend,  als  auch  tertiam  minorcm  oder  Re  Mi  Fa 
betreffend.  Zuni  Xutzen  und  Gebrauch  der  Lehrbegierigen 
Musicalischen  Jugend  als  auch  derer  in  diesem  studio  schon 
habil  seyenden  besondem  Zeit  Vertreib  aufgesetzet  und 
verfertiget  von  Johann  Sebastian  Bach  p.  t.  Hochfurstl- 
Anhalt.  Cothenischen  Capell-Meistern  und  Directore  derer 
Cammer-Musiquen.     Anno  1722." 

This  is  the  first  half  of  the  collection  known  in 
English-speaking  countries  as  the  "Forty-eight  Preludes 
and  Fugues,"  and  the  date  shows  that  Bach  must  have 
been  at  work  on  it  about  the  time  of  his  second  mar- 
riage. But  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  composi- 
tion of  the  pieces  themselves  belongs  to  that  time, 
for  everything  points  to  the  collection  not  having 
been  written  at  one  time,  but  having  been  the 
association  of  short  movements,  many  of  which  had 
accumulated  in  the  course  of  years.  It  has  already 
been  mentioned  that  many  of  the  preludes  made 
their  appearance,  some  in  a  less  developed  form  it 
is  true,  in  Friedemann's  "Clavier-Buchlein,"  and  this 
also  seems  to  justify  the  inference  that  many  of  the 
pairs  of  preludes  and  fugues  were  not  deliberately 
written  to  belong  to  one  another,  but  were  brought 
together  wherever  there  seemed  a  sense  of  fitness. 
Though,  to  consider  the  matter  with  full  latitude  of 


146  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

surmise,  there  seems  no  reason  why,  if  the  preludes 
had  been  in  existence  first,  Bach  might  not  have  written 
the  fugues  afterv/ards  to  fit  on  to  them.  Several  of 
the  pairs,  of  which  the  preludes  are  known  to  have 
existed  long  before,  still  seem  so  admirably  fitted  to 
one  another  that  it  is  hardly  imaginable  that  their 
coming  together  should  have  been  merely  fortuitous. 
And  in  some  cases  again  the  amplifications  of  the 
preludes  in  their  final  versions  undoubtedly  fit  them 
much  more  completely  to  be  combined  with  the 
fugues;  which  seems  to  point  to  the  composer's 
having  had  the  suitableness  of  either  for  the  other 
very  clearly  in  mind.  In  any  case  the  style  of  the 
pieces  is  always  so  far  consistent  that  there  is  no 
mating  of  absolutely  incompatible  qualities  or  styles. 
Bach  made  various  experiments  in  different  styles, 
and  among  them  are  some  in  the  old  simple  style  of 
choral  counterpoint  for  organ  and  for  clavier  as  well  as 
for  voices.  But  it  is  noteworthy  that  he  did  not  mate 
a  fugue  in  that  style  with  a  movement  in  the  instru- 
mental style  characteristic  of  his  time.  Indeed,  in  the 
''Wohltemperirtes  Clavier"  there  are  not  many  move- 
ments which  are  not  genuinely  instrumental  in  style. 
This  was  but  natural  with  the  preludes,  as  the  form 
had  been  cultivated  for  more  than  a  hundred  years, 
and  since  its  first  appearance  as  an  instrumental  form 
it  had  always  been  florid  and  well  furnished  with 
rapid  passages.  It  would  have  been  more  natural  for 
the  fugues  to  be  in  a  choral  style,  since  the  fugue  was 
essentially  a  contrapuntal  form,  and  counterpoint  was 
a  device  of  choral  art.  But  even  in  the  fugues  Bach 
mainly  adopts  the  genuinely  instrumental  style,  vi- 
vacious with  accent,  rhythm,  and  free  play  of  rapid 


Cothen  147 

notes;  and  in  this  collection,  brought  together  and 
completed  in  1722,  there  are  not  more  than  two 
fugues  at  most  which  have  the  tokens  of  the  choral 
style,  and  they  both  have  peculiarly  serious  and  sober 
preludes. 

But  this  adoption  of  definitely  instrumental  style 
for  fugues  was  no  new  thing.  The  early  types  of 
ricercare  and  canzona,  which  display  the  characteristic 
treatment  of  subjects  which  was  more  or  less  systema- 
tised  in  fugues,  were  written  in  a  choral  style,  but  that 
was  because  the  instrumental  style  had  hardly  begun 
to  exist.  As  soon  as  composers  began  to  feel  that  the 
old  choral  style  was  not  all-sufficing  for  instruments 
they  began  to  write  their  fugal  movements  in  a  lighter 
and  more  rhythmic  manner.  Even  Andrea  Gabrieli 
in  the  sixteenth  century  occasionally  ornamented  his 
subjects  and  his  instrumental  counterpoint  with  turns 
and  runs,  and  his  nephew,  the  great  Giovanni,  extended 
the  practice  more  generally.  Frescobaldi  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  seventeenth  century  wrote  little  fugal 
movements  in  a  vivacious  and  spirited  instrumental 
style,  and  his  pupil  Froberger  followed  suit  in  the  same 
direction.  Every  generation  developed  more  fully 
the  true  instrumental  type  of  fugue,  for  Pachelbel 
extended  its  freedom  considerably,  and  Buxtehude,  in 
his  turn,  show^ed  his  high  instinct  for  instrumental  style 
in  fugues  which  were  almost  as  rich  in  detail  and  as  full 
of  true  instrumental  effect  and  rhythm  as  Bach's  own. 
But  all  their  work  had  been  done  for  the  organ,  and 
very  few  composers  had  addressed  themselves  to  using 
the  form  for  the  clavier  alone.  In  Kuhnau's  suites 
and  sonatas  there  had  been  some  fugal  movements,  and 
the  fugal  type  had  been  employed  in  the  early  Italian 


148  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

violin  sonatas,  but  a  scheme  so  large  and  comprehensive 
as  John  Sebastian's  had  never  before  been  attempted, 
and  even  what  had  been  attemipted  on  a  small  scale 
did  not  show  any  recognition  of  the  difference  between 
organ  style  and  clavier  style. 

But  here,  again,  too  much  stress  must  not  be  laid  on 
Bach's  recognition  of  the  style  most  apt  for  the  clavier. 
The  invention  cannot  be  legitimately  attributed  to 
him.  Music  had  arrived  at  the  point  of  development 
when  the  clavier  style  was  being  generally  discerned. 
Domenico  Scarlatti  was  John  Sebastian's  senior  by 
two  years,  and  no  one  ever  showed  a  higher  or  subtler 
instinct  for  the  style  of  the  harpsichord;  and  though  he 
scarcely  wrote  any  fugues,  his  concise  movements  are 
full  of  all  the  vivacious  rhythmic  contrivances  which 
were  perfectly  suited  to  the  fugal  form.  John  Sebas- 
tian's pre-eminence  does  not,  therefore,  lie  so  much  in 
the  invention  of  the  clavier  style  as  in  the  extent  to 
which  he  expanded  it,  and  the  marvellous  scope  and 
variety  of  the  artistic  material  which  he  presented  in 
that  style  in  the  fugal  form.  He  did  not,  it  is  true,  get 
entirely  away  from  the  organ  style;  for  that  permeated 
his  whole  artistic  being,  and  it  peeps  out  in  nearly  all 
his  works,  for  whatever  medium  of  utterance  he  wrote. 
But  in  all  cases  the  general  texture  is,  in  its  predomi- 
nating qualities,  thoroughly  suited  to  the  conditions 
of  presentment. 

So  it  may  be  said  here  that  the  fugues  of  the  "  Wohl- 
temperirtes  Clavier,"  though  bearing  traces  of  the  in- 
fluence of  the  organ  style,  which  was  the  diction  most 
congenial  to  Bach,  are  in  a  very  large  majority  of 
cases  quite  unfitted  to  be  played  on  the  organ,  and 
when  they  are  fitted  to  be  so  transplanted  they  may  be 


Cothen  149 

judged  to  have  been  works  which  belonged  to  an  earlier 
time,  before  he  had  developed  the  full  maturity  of  his 
powers;  of  which  the  fugue  in  A  minor  [No.  20]  is  the 
most  obvious  example.  But  it  is  not  only  a  mere  ques- 
tion of  style.  The  composition  of  fugues  for  the  do- 
mestic keyed  instrument  demanded  a  totally  different 
conception  of  the  form  and  radical  dilTerences  of  scheme 
and  effect  from  organ  fugues.  The  more  intimate  cir- 
cumstances in  which  clavier  fugues  would  be  performed 
required  more  intimate  treatment  of  detail.  The  lack 
of  sustaining  power  in  the  instrument  precluded  the 
piling  up  of  great  masses  of  harmony  and  the  processes 
which  led  to  great  climaxes  of  sound  and  the  effects  to 
be  obtained  by  powerful  suspensions  on  the  organ, 
and  this  excluded  one  of  the  most  familiar  effects  of 
the  old  type  of  fugue.  Where  the  organ  could  keep 
on  the  notes  of  a  chord  or  an  individual  part  in- 
definitely, on  the  clavier  it  would  be  necessary  to 
repeat  the  notes  in  some  way  or  another.  Hence 
the  whole  appearance  of  clavier  music  became  different 
from  organ  music.  For  where  the  organ  composer 
could  write  a  sustained  chord,  the  clavier  composer 
had  to  ffnd  a  formula  which  represented  the  con- 
tinuance of  a  chord  in  an  artificial  manner.  From 
this  cause  arose  the  conventional  formulas  of  accom- 
paniment, such  as  the  so-called  "  Alberti  bass,"  which, 
having  been  adopted  long  before  Alberti  because  it 
lay  conveniently  under  the  hand  of  the  clavier  player, 
was  ultimately  transferred  to  other  branches  of  art, 
where  it  had  no  reason  of  existence  whatever,  by 
composers  who  wanted  cheap  devices  to  save  them 
the  effort  of  invention. 

But  the  qualities  of  the  clavier  in  this  respect  had  im- 


150  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

portant  results  which  could  not  have  been  foreseen  by 
the  early  composers  who  divined  the  mere  necessities, 
and  these  were  manifested  first  of  all  in  preludes.  In 
the  early  stages  of  the  development  of  instrumental 
music,  the  passages  and  figures  which  were  used  were 
unsystematic  and  indefinite;  but  by  degrees  composers 
realised  that  any  formula  of  arpeggio  which  was 
adopted  to  represent  the  harmony  which  the  harpsi- 
chord or  clavichord  could  not  sustain,  must  almost 
necessarily  have  some  individuality  of  its  own,  and 
that  this  definite  character  having  once  been  pre- 
sented, the  adoption  of  another  which  was  inconsistent 
with  it  entailed  incoherence,  inconsequence,  and  an 
appearance  like  the  helpless  babblings  of  an  unde- 
veloped mind. 

But  the  influence  of  this  necessity  was  not  merely 
negative;  it  soon  suggested  to  the  minds  of  composers 
a  most  valuable  means  of  unifying  a  whole  composition 
in  a  very  decisive  manner.  For,  as  soon  as  it  was  seen 
that  the  figures  devised  to  represent  the  harmonies 
could  in  themselves  be  made  attractive  and  charac- 
teristic, artistic  instinct  began  to  divine  that  entire 
movements  could  be  closely  knit  together  by  reiterating 
them  in  subtle  variations  of  position,  or  with  such 
variations  of  the  actual  contours  as  could  be  adopted 
without  obscuring  the  initial  idea.  Out  of  the 
limitations  of  the  clavier,  therefore,  grew  the  practice 
of  preludising  coherently  on  a  series  of  chords;  which 
was  a  very  attractive  form  to  the  logically  artistic 
mind,  and  has  at  certain  times  in  the  history  of  art 
been  cultivated  with  remarkable  concentration  of 
artistic  faculty;  as,  for  instance,  by  Chopin;  who  in 
all    probability    got    the   idea   from    the   very    work 


Cothen  151 

under  consideration,  and  expanded  the  conception  to 
suit  the  capacities  of  the  modern  pianoforte  in  such 
works  as  his  "Etudes"  and  "Preludes."  It  should 
also  be  noted  in  passing  that  the  principle,  having  once 
been  realised,  spread  through  the  whole  range  of  music 
and  is  found  in  the  works  of  men  of  all  schools  in 
various  phases  of  usage,  from  Schubert  and  Men- 
delssohn to  Wagner.  Bach  himself  employed  it  very 
copiously  at  times  in  the  instrumental  accompani- 
ments of  his  great  choral  works;  which  was  the  more 
natural  when  in  the  absence  of  the  systematisation  of 
harmony  and  key  of  the  sonata  type  (which  was  not 
due  to  be  understood  till  a  full  generation  later),  it 
formed  one  of  the  most  practicable  means  of  making 
a  work  of  art  thematically  coherent. 

Such  a  type  of  procedure  was  of  all  things  most 
suitable  to  the  conditions  of  domestic  music.  It  is 
inevitable  that  the  music  of  men's  homes  should  be 
much  more  closely  scanned  than  the  music  of  public 
gatherings.  It  is  inevitable  that  it  should  be  more 
closely  knit  and  more  compact.  It  is  also  very  natural 
that  it  should  be  on  a  smialler  scale,  for  large  parapher- 
nalia are  not  wanted  to  present  diminutive  works  of 
art.  And  inasmuch  as  the  method  of  reiteration  is 
liable  to  become  monotonous  if  it  be  persisted  in  too 
long,  a  small  circuit  such  as  is  appropriate  to  preludes 
for  the  clavier  is  the  ideal  ground  for  the  employment 
of  the  type  of  procedure  in  its  most  unalloyed  sim- 
plicity. Bach,  indeed,  was  the  first  composer  who 
seized  on  the  principle  with  uncompromising  thorough- 
ness, and  he  seems  to  delight  in  exploring  its  possi- 
bilities. Out  of  the  twenty-four  preludes,  at  least 
fifteen  are  based  on  the  principle,  and  several  of  the 


152  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

others  bear  conspicuous  traces  of  its  influence;  but 
here,  as  elsewhere,  he  manipulates  it  with  inexhaustible 
resourcefulness. 

The  actual  manner  of  employing  it  is  never  identical 
in  any  two  cases.  It  may  be  seen  in  its  most  absolute 
simplicity  in  the  first  prelude  of  all,  which  is  so  slender 
and  so  slight  as  to  be  Httle  more  than  the  texture  of  a 
dream.  It  represents  the  elemental  principle  of  a  suc- 
cession of  harmonies  vitalised  by  reiteration  of  a  single 
figure,  which  makes  the  entire  movement  coherent 
from  end  to  end.  Yet  simple  and  slight  as  the  prin- 
ciple is  and  unsophisticated  as  is  its  application,  it 
forms  the  groundwork  of  a  movement  which  has  very 
few  equals  in  the  universality  of  the  appeal  which  it 
makes  to  hearers  gifted  with  any  delicacy  of  feeling. 
And  it  is  worth  noting  that  there  are  an  unusual  number 
of  versions  of  the  movement ;  since,  as  before  mentioned, 
it  appears  in  Friedemann's  "Clavier-Biichlein"  in  a 
short  version  and  again,  later,  with  modifications  in 
Anna  Magdalena's  second  book.  So  that  the  composer 
must  have  returned  to  it  again  and  again,  always  try- 
ing to  make  its  perfections  more  complete  and  more 
subtle. 

The  general  scheme  of  the  second  prelude  is  the  same 
as  the  first,  but  shows  how  the  principle  may  be  more 
richly  elaborated;  since  the  figure  itself  is  presented  in 
two  closely  related  parts  and  the  coda  is  much  more 
extensive  and  more  rich  in  detail  than  that  of  the  first, 
as  it  needed  to  be  in  relation  to  the  greater  solidity  and 
energy  of  the  prelude  as  a  whole.  The  third  prelude 
presents  quite  a  new  aspect  of  the  principle;  as  the 
type-figure  is  twofold,  in  parts  not  thematically  related 
as  in  the  second  prelude,  but  contrasting;  and  its  con- 


Cothen  153 

stituent  ideas  arc  bandied  about  fiDin  hand  lo  hand 
and  subjected  to  many  variations.  Tiic  fourth  prelude 
in  C  sharp  minor  presents  a  much  more  highly  organ- 
ised variety,  in  which  two  type-formulas  arc  discussed 
in  a  kind  of  earnest  conversation  between  the  "parts" 
throughout,  with  episodical  passages.  The  fifth  in  D 
major  is  yet  another  type — the  formula  is  strikingly 
definite,  and  therefore  serves  the  better  for  the  in- 
genious and  effective  interpolation  of  extraneous  notes 
amongst  the  busy  reiterations  of  the  type-figure;  which 
notes  not  only  have  the  effect  of  sharp  little  flashes  of 
sound  but  subtly  suggest  an  independent  melody.  In 
this  connection  naturally  follows  the  tenth  prelude  ir 
E  minor  in  which  the  type-figure  is  given  to  the  left 
hand,  and  serves  as  an  accompaniment  to  a  long-drawn 
melody  interspersed  with  ornamental  adjuncts  for  the 
right  hand.  The  prelude  gains  additional  interest 
from  the  point  of  view  of  Bach's  artistic  revisions; 
since  its  germ  appears  earlier  in  Friedemann's  "Clavier- 
Biichlein" — where  it  represents  the  primitive  type  of 
the  first  prelude,  the  melody  in  the  right  hand  being 
altogether  absent  and  replaced  merely  by  short  chords 
on  the  accents  following  the  harmonic  progressions  of 
the  left  hand — it  seems  conceivable  that  Bach  found 
the  figure  insufficiently  interesting  to  sustain  the  whole 
responsibility  of  the  movement,  and  added  the  melody, 
which  therefore  makes  the  figure  in  the  bass  purely 
secondary.  But  at  the  same  time  it  serves  as  suffici- 
ent basis  of  coherence  to  allow  the  melody  to  range 
in  freedom  like  an  impassioned  rhapsody;  and  the 
accessory  interest  thus  obtained  supplies  justification 
for  a  much  greater  extension  of  the  coda.  The  sixth 
prelude  is  an  extension  of  the  type  of  the  first  and 


154  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

second  with  more  rapid  changes  of  harmony  and  more 
importance  in  the  moving  bass. 

Progressing  still  further,  the  eighth  prelude  in  E 
flat  minor  supplies  an  altogether  new  type  which  seems 
at  the  outset  to  negative  the  very  principle  on  which  it 
is  based.  For  the  underlying  basis  of  harmony  is  not 
presented  in  a  figurate  form  at  all  but  in  simple  chords. 
But  the  effect  of  coherence  is  attained  by  these  chords 
being  systematically  grouped  in  threes  in  the  metric 
form  which  is  called  a  "molossus";  and  this  serves  as 
the  unifying  principle  throughout  the  long  rhapsodical 
melody  which  is  given  to  the  right  hand,  on  the  same 
principle  as  the  lively  figure  in  the  tenth  prelude. 
Strangely  enough,  notwithstanding  the  extreme  sim- 
plicity of  the  procedure,  the  prelude  is  one  of  the  most 
impassioned  and  the  most  interesting  of  the  whole  series 
— a  movement  exceptionally  full  of  d^ep  feeling,  and 
carried  out  with  a  consistency  which  is  not  surpassed 
in  any  of  those  in  which  the  more  obvious  device  of 
reiteration  of  a  figure  is  maintained  throughout.  It 
is  evident  that  Bach  thought  the  movement  worthy  of 
exceptional  care  and  consideration,  as  there  are  tVvO 
versions,  and  twelve  bars  of  the  latter  portion  (which 
seem  ideally  to  extend  the  m.ood  of  the  main  body  of 
the  prelude)  seem  to  have  been  an  after-thought — 
analogous  to  the  enlargement  of  canvas  which  is  some- 
times found  in  the  works  of  the  most  critically-minded 
painters. 

The  principle  of  laying  so  much  stress  on  the  metric 
element  became  of  great  importance.  It  is  nowhere 
again  so  frankly  presented  as  in  this  prelude — but  its 
introduction  offers  an  opportunity  of  enhancement  of 
the  interest  of  the  type-formula,  and  in  many  cases 


Cothcn  155 

Bach  uses  it  as  a  powerful  element  of  definition,  either 
in  a  single  part  (as  in  the  seventeenth  prelude  in  A  flat) 
or  distributed  so  as  to  appear  to  represent  alternation 
of  separate  parts,  as  in  the  slow  movement  of  the 
"Italian  Concerto"  and  other  works. 

There  is  no  need  to  take  all  the  preludes  in  detail ;  a 
subtle  variety  of  artistic  application  pervades  them  all. 
In  only  a  few  cases  does  the  composer  make  experi- 
ments in  a  different  order  of  procedure.  The  ninth 
prelude  in  E  major  appears  in  the  guise  of  a  free  melody 
richly  harmonised  v^'ith  flowing  parts.  A  characteristic 
figure  is  very  prominent  but  is  more  irregularly  intro- 
duced than  in  the  figurate  preludes  presenting  a  suc- 
cession of  harmonies.  The  prelude  in  G  minor,  No.  16, 
has  the  character  of  a  violin  solo  of  the  type  of  slow 
movements  found  in  concertos  and  sonatas  of  the  time; 
such  as  Vivaldi's  and  even  Corelli's.  Bach  very  fre- 
quently attempted  such  adaptations,  as  in  the  before- 
mentioned  slow  movement  of  the  "Italian  Concerto" 
for  clavier,  with  very  characteristic  and  beautiful 
results,  which  bring  into  promiinence  his  great  love  of 
long-drawn,  expressive,  rhapsodical  melody  enhanced 
by  subtle  touches  of  decorative  ornament.  A  few  of 
the  preludes  bear  strong  traces  of  the  organ  style,  such 
as  the  twelfth  in  F  minor;  and  in  the  twenty-second  in 
B  flat  minor  he  indulged  his  love  of  rich  harmonisa- 
tion,  unifying  the  whole  by  the  almost  ceaseless 
reiteration  of  a  metric  formula. 

Apart  from  these  technical  considerations,  repre- 
senting the  intellectual  side  of  the  art,  the  great  variety 
of  mood  and  expression  is  most  notable.  The  preludes 
are  no  barren  expositions  of  purely  technical  devices; 
though  some  artistic  problem  is  always  embodied  and 


iS6  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

happily  solved,  the  intrinsic  quality  of  the  ideas  them- 
selves has  a  still  higher  value.  There  is  not  one  prelude 
in  the  collection  which  does  not  appeal  to  the  hearer's 
feelings  as  much  as,  if  not  more  than  to  his  intelligence, 
and  with  infinite  variety;  but  the  infinite  variety  is 
nowhere  tainted  with  anything  base  or  trivial,  but  is 
of  the  highest  and  purest  quality.  The  composers  who 
went  before  him  had  mainly  to  confine  themselves  to 
the  development  of  technical  resources,  and  it  fell  to  the 
lot  of  John  Sebastian  to  apply  the  technical  resources 
to  expression. 

This  is  equally  the  case  with  the  fugues.  The  mere 
fact  that  the  conditions  for  which  they  were  written 
made  it  desirable  that  they  should  be  short,  precluded 
their  being  made  occasions  for  the  display  of  what  is 
commonly  called  learning  or  technical  dexterity.  And 
the  composer,  though  his  facility  in  canonic  devices  was 
unequalled,  forebore  for  the  most  part  to  fill  up  even  the 
measure  of  ingenuities  which  the  learned  pundits  pro- 
claimed to  be  necessary  for  any  well-conducted  fugue. 
A  less  orthodox  series  of  fugues  could  not  well  be  found. 
At  the  very  outset  the  composer  seems  to  give  a  little 
hint  to  those  who  take  interest  in  such  matters  that 
he  did  not  intend  to  be  bound  by  the  commonly  re- 
ceived proprieties,  as  in  the  first  six  bars  of  the 
first  fugue  he  makes  his  alternations  of  ''Dux"  and 
"Comes"  succeed  one  another  in  an  order  which  is 
not  in  accordance  with  the  usual  procedure.  He  makes 
no  pretence  of  introducing  episodes  and  counter-expo- 
sitions, and  set  formalities  of  successions  of  keys.  If 
the  subject  happens  to  lend  itself  to  the  usual  procedure, 
he  will  avail  himself  of  it.  I  f  not,  it  is  of  no  consequence 
to  him  how  unfugal  the  result  may  be.     His  object  is 


Cothcn  157 

to  make  an  interesting  and  well-organised  work  of  art, 
by  the  very  widest  interpretation  of  fugal  principles,  and 
it  is  of  absolutely  no  consequence  to  him  whether  the 
subject  is  capable  of  being  treated  in  stretto  or  not. 
Indeed,  men  possessed  of  a  great  taste  for  technicalities 
and  little  musical  sense  have  found  fault  with  some  of 
the  fugues  because  he  did  not  avail  himself  of  all  the 
opportunities  of  technical  display  which  his  subjects 
atlorded.  But  he  had  too  much  grasp  of  the  situation 
not  to  know  that  if  he  extended  the  fugue  unduly  in 
order  to  bring  in  an  extra  piece  of  ingenuity  the  whole 
would  have  been  marred  by  the  sacrifice  of  the  higher 
consideration  to  the  lower. 

When  a  subject  invited  ingenious  strettos,  like  that 
of  the  first  fugue,  he  packed  the  whole  as  full  of  such 
dexterities  as  it  could  hold,  bringing  in  the  stretto  much 
too  soon  (according  to  the  usually  accepted  conven- 
tions) in  order  to  exhaust  the  opportunities  of  present- 
ing the  subject  in  a  variety  of  lights ;  and  hardly  leaving 
a  single  moment  from  beginning  to  end  without  some 
part  of  the  subject  sounding.  In  other  cases,  where 
the  subject  is  really  not  very  adaptable,  he  allows 
it  to  drop  into  a  secondary  position.  Thus  in  the 
fugue  in  E  flat  major  he  makes  all  his  play  with  the 
figure  of  the  codetta  which  comes  between  the  state- 
ment of  the  subject  and  the  answer;  so  that  material 
which  is  purely  parenthetical  really  establishes  the 
whole  character  of  the  fugue.  Again,  in  the  fugue  in 
F  sharp  major,  the  subject  of  which  is  quite  workable, 
he  makes  use  of  a  characteristic  figure  which  comes  in 
quite  independently  after  the  exposition,  to  give  the 
cachet  to  the  whole  fugue.  In  the  case  of  the  peculiarly 
poignant  and  desolate  fugue  in  B  minor,  one  of  the 


158  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

most  striking  features  is  a  sequential  episode  which 
recurs  three  times,  and  which  has  nothing  to  do  with 
either  the  subject  or  the  counter-subject;  but  breaks 
the  persistence  of  truly  tragic  melancholy  with  short 
interspaces  of  relief  and  beautiful  contrast.  An  earlier 
employment  of  the  same  device  has  been  referred  to  in 
connection  with  the  organ  fugue  in  D  minor  (p.  (i']). 

A  type  of  subject  which  is  quite  unfitted  for  the 
subtleties  of  strettos  and  such  technical  treatment  is 
presented  in  the  fugues  in  C  sharp  major  and  B  flat, 
whose  merry,  light,  and  vivacious  character  would 
make  the  devices  of  the  learned  seem  out  of  place.  In 
both  these  fugues  much  play  is  made  with  accessory 
features,  which  in  the  first  case  are  independent  of  the 
subject  and  in  the  second  constitute  its  latter  part. 
In  the  noble  fugue  in  F  sharp  m.inor,  again,  the  counter- 
subject  is  of  far  more  importance  in  establishing  the 
character  of  the  fugue  than  the  principal  subject;  and 
the  same  may  be  said  of  the  fugue  in  F  minor,  the  sub- 
ject of  which  has  a  peculiarly  stiff  and  monotonous 
crotchet  motion,  which,  however,  takes  an  entirely 
new  significance  when  it  is  attended  by  the  strongly 
contrasted  and  concise  figure  of  the  counter-subject. 

From  these  considerations  it  follows  that  John  Sebas- 
tian took  an  extremely  independent  view  of  the  fugue 
form  when  used  for  the  clavier;  and  the  independence 
seems  likely  to  have  come  upon  him  in  the  actual  pro- 
cess of  composition;  otherwise  it  would  seem  illogical 
that  in  so  many  cases  the  subject  should  eventually 
occupy  a  subordinate  position,  and  that  the  features 
which  determined  the  character  of  the  fugue  should  be 
after-thoughts.  In  theory,  of  course,  the  object  of  the 
fugue  form  is  to  deal  with  the  subject  which  is  pro- 


Cothen  159 

pounded  at  the  outset;  but  practice  has  the  agreeable 
advantage  of  almost  invariably  proving  theory  to  be 
ultimately  inadequate.  The  abstract  theory  of  fugue  is 
as  inadequate  as  theories  in  politics  or  philosophy  which 
are  not  founded  on  antecedent  practice  but  upon  pre- 
conceived anticipation.  The  object  of  the  many  gener- 
ations of  composers  who  evolved  the  fugue  was  to  find 
a  sane  and  intelligible  form  in  which  to  present  their 
ideas;  not  a  mere  excuse  for  showing  off  technical  in- 
genuity. No  doubt,  ingenuity  being  more  plentiful 
than  ideas,  the  result  was  rather  deceptive;  for  a  prin- 
ciple of  the  kind  is  capable  of  being  dissected  and 
analysed  in  cold  blood  till  every  progression  and 
every  point  of  procedure  seems  to  be  successively 
indicated  as  if  by  physical  necessity. 

But  if  such  a  point  could  really  be  arrived  at  w  ith 
any  form,  its  condemnation  would  thereby  be  pro- 
nounced. It  can  be  of  no  further  use  to  humanity. 
People  who  are  under  the  impression  that  they  can 
make  works  of  art  by  applying  rules  of  procedure  are 
merely  trying  to  pass  off  a  framework  as  a  living 
organism.  It  is  in  practice  that  the  misconceptions 
of  artistic  law-makers  are  corrected.  This  may  be 
applied  to  John  Sebastian's  peculiar  manipulation  of 
the  fugue  form.  The  truth  must  be  admitted  that 
human  beings,  especially  the  greater  ones,  have  to 
warm  up  to  their  work  in  the  process  of  working;  and 
adapt  themselves  to  the  promptings  of  their  inspira- 
tions as  they  reveal  themselves.  The  greater  minds 
often  anticipate  the  whole  schem^e  of  whatever  work 
of  art  they  intend  to  complete  before  they  begin  to 
work  upon  it  in  detail.  But  this  is  more  especially 
difficult  with    the  fugal  form,  which   is  the  gradual 


i6o  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

ravelment  of  long  lines  of  concurrent  melodies,  the 
interest  of  which  is  constantly  cumulative,  from  the 
single-part  opening,  till  the  knot  is  tied  at  the  end. 
The  effect  of  the  form  of  procedure  is  to  reveal  to  the 
composer  unexpected  possibilities  in  the  relations  of  the 
subject  to  the  context  as  the  composition  proceeds — 
and,  as  above  suggested,  an  unexpected  possibility 
which  is  frequently  revealed  is  that  the  subject  is 
intractable. 

The  fact  that  Bach,  when  he  meant  to  make  music 
in  the  form  of  the  fugue,  did  not  attempt  to  devise  sub- 
jects which  would  serve  to  illustrate  canonic  devices  is 
clear  from  the  large  number  of  them  which  do  not  admit 
-of  being  treated  in  stretto  at  all.  His  incomparable 
facility  in  feats  of  skill  justified  his  neglecting  to  pre- 
pare opportunities  for  its  display,  and  encouraged  him 
to  project  his  mind  in  the  direction  of  conceiving  a 
subject  which  should  have  some  characteristic  feat- 
ure, some  characteristic  suggestion  of  temperamental 
quality,  or  some  general  principle  of  motion  which 
might  form  the  basis  or  pervading  type  of  mood  in 
the  whole  of  a  movement ;  and  it  may  be  pointed  out 
that  he  effected  the  objects  which  the  theorists  aimed 
at  by  much  subtler  means  than  they  proposed.  For 
the  purpose  of  illustration  the  Fugue  in  D  major.  No. 
5,  is  most  apt.  In  this  case  the  subject  is  admirably 
fitted  to  supply  the  pervading  miood  to  the  whole 
movement,  but  is  quite  unfitted  for  regular  stretto 
work.  Bach  certainly  brings  the  strikingly  character- 
istic figure  closer  and  closer  as  the  work  proceeds,  till 
the  reiterations  not  only  touch  one  another,  but  are 
reduplicated  in  two  parts;  which  is  all,  indeed,  that 
the  human  hand  could  deal  with  under  the  circum- 


Cothen  i6i 

stances.  But  as  a  stretto,  in  the  ordinary  theoretic 
sense  of  the  word,  it  is  a  mere  imposture.  The  root 
idea  is  made  to  pervade  the  mind  more  and  more  till 
it  is  so  completely  all-absorbed  that  the  mental  ad- 
juster seems  to  say,  "Hold,  enough,"  and  at  the  exact 
moment,  which  nothing  but  the  highest  degree  of 
artistic  instinct  could  divine,  the  wrought-up  fervour 
of  concentration  ceases,  and  a  few  simple  chords,  cast 
in  the  form  of  the  less  characteristic  features  of  the 
subject,  seem,  with  a  dignified  courtesy,  to  close  the 
book.  But  there  has  been  no  stretto.  What  stretto 
there  is  is  a  mental  one.  In  this  case  the  sudden 
rush  with  which  the  subject  begins  is  the  feat- 
ure which  rivets  the  mind  and  gives  the  cue  to  the 
development  of  the  fugue.  A  similar  device  is  found  in 
the  Fugue  in  E  major,  in  which  the  incisively  question- 
ing little  figure  of  two  notes,  with  which  the  subject 
opens,  gives  the  cue,  and  is  made  to  flash  out  of  the 
texture  of  flowing  semiquavers  throughout  the  move- 
ment; the  last  reference  coming  in  the  last  bar  but  one, 
seeming  like  a  playful  mockery,  for  the  question  is 
left  practically  unanswered!  The  truth  is,  the  com- 
poser seizes  the  material  which  is  suggestive  where- 
ever  he  finds  it.  Sometimes  it  comes  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  subject,  as  in  the  exquisitely  tender  and 
pathetic  Fugue  in  G  sharp  minor,  one  of  the  most 
humanly  consistent  of  all;  in  which,  though  the  first 
part  of  the  subject  is  presented  and  developed  with 
wonderful  fancy,  it  is  the  little  figure  forming  the  latter 
part  which  pervades  the  whole  fugue  and  quite  puts 
the  earlier  part  into  the  background  at  the  end.  In 
other  cases,  as  before  pointed  out,  he  does  not  find  the 
material  which  is  to  give  character  to  the  fugue  till 


i62  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

he  has  done  his  duty  by  the  subject,  and  then  it  pre- 
sents itself  as  it  were  by  accident  in  the  counter-subject 
or  in  musical  material  which  is  independent  of  the 
principal  subject. 

Even  a  comparative  failure  like  the  Fugue  in  A  major 
shows  what  his  attitude  was.  In  this  case  he  evidently 
anticipated  much  from  the  zigzag  motion  of  the  subject, 
which  might  be  expected  to  lay  hold  of  the  mind  de- 
cisively. But  here  the  subject  proved  intractable;  and, 
much  as  the  skill  of  its  manipulation  may  be  admired, 
it  must  be  admitted  that  it  does  not  take  possession  of 
the  mind  like  many  another  characteristic  form  of  mo- 
tion. It  is  capricious  and  wilful,  but  not  attractive; 
and  in  the  latter  part  of  the  fugue  the  composer  resorts 
to  the  curious  makeshift  of  presenting  a  variant  of  the 
subject,  which  moves  more  easily  and  suggests  the 
ground  idea  of  the  subject,  without  being  technically 
exact. 

This  leads  to  a  consideration  which  is  character- 
istic and  important.  The  composer  frequently  resorts 
to  the  practice  of  developing  the  subject  or  its  root 
idea  into  new  and  interesting  forms,  which  give  a  fine 
aspect  of  continuity  without  reiteration  of  the  exact 
concrete  formula,  adding  interest  while  suggesting  an 
expansion  of  the  ground  thought.  This  is  illustrated 
by  the  very  first  fugue,  in  which  the  typical  rising  mo- 
tion of  the  first  four  notes  provides  the  cue  for  the  final 
passage,  wherein  the  rising  process  is  expanded  in  more 
rapid  notes,  extending  by  gradations  up  the  scale  for 
an  octave  and  a  half,  and  reiterating  the  sense  of  the 
subject  without  ever  actually  quoting  it  exactly.  A 
more  highly  organised  example  of  similar  development 
may  be  seen  in  the  close  of  the  E  major  Fugue  in  the 


Cothcn  163 

second  series.  It  is  the  underlying  principle  upon 
which  the  subject  is  based  wiiich  is  made  use  of,  illus- 
trating the  spirit  rather  than  the  exact  musical  form- 
ula, and  it  is  this  larger  view  which  gives  the  fugues 
such  pre-eminent  and  unique  interest. 

When  the  subject  is  happy  enough,  within  its  con- 
fined limits,  to  suggest  a  principle  which  lays  hold  of 
the  mind,  it  is  persistently  reiterated;  when  it  is  in- 
sufficient, other  musical  figures  are  introduced,  some- 
times to  afford  pleasant  alternations  of  contrast, 
sometimes  to  form  the  real  basis  of  the  character  of  the 
fugue.  But  the  character  is  always  of  vital  import- 
ance. It  is  not  merely  a  subject  which  appears  at 
certain  proper  and  logical  intervals,  but  a  mood  or 
mental  image  which  pervades  the  whole. 

The  fact  is  patent  that  the  fugues  individually 
represent  various  types  of  mood,  from  stateliness  and 
severity  and  sadness,  to  the  most  unequivocal  gaiety: 
and  thus  the  value  of  this  form  of  art  is  shown  in  its 
finest  significance.  The  fugal  principle  is  shown  rightly 
to  be  a  method  of  artistic  organisation,  and  instead  of 
being  a  stiff,  prim,  mechanical  example  of  mere  so- 
called  science  it  becomes  one  of  the  most  elastic 
and  comprehensive  means  of  conveying  musical  ideas. 
No  doubt  it  represents  an  ancient  and  deep-rooted 
principle  of  art,  and  belongs  to  a  stage  which  was  al- 
most purely  contrapuntal  in  its  inception,  and  the 
rules  by  which  the  exposition  of  the  subject  was  gov- 
erned give  it  a  slightly  conventional  aspect;  but  when 
art  had  passed  through  the  classical  phase  of  the  sonata 
and  sought  freedom  again,  though  the  formal  exposi- 
tion of  the  fugue  has  been  dropped,  the  most  modern 
phase  of  art  again  returns  to  the  same  treatment  of 


i64  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

subjects  in  polyphony  which  Bach  illustrated  in  the 
first  portion  of  the  "Wohltemperirtes  Clavier." 

But  there  is  another  aspect  of  the  question  which 
must  be  considered,  before  all  has  been  said,  and  that 
is  suggested  by  the  very  name,  the  ''Well-tempered 
Clavier."  The  adoption  of  this  name  by  Bach  was  a 
public  and  deliberate  recognition  of  a  radical  change 
in  the  construction  of  European  scales,  of  such  pre- 
eminent importance  that  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say 
that  without  it  modern  musical  art  would  have  been 
absolutely  impossible.  It  need  not  be  supposed  that 
Bach  was  answerable  for  the  acceptance  of  the  new 
scale  system.  That  was  bound  to  come  for  the  simple 
reason  that  the  art  could  not  get  on  without  it.  Things 
had  been  moving  in  that  direction  for  a  long  while; 
indeed,  it  must  ever  remain  a  puzzle  how  some  of  the 
pieces  in  the  virginal  music  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  and 
James  the  First's  time  could  have  been  endured  at  all 
except  in  the  scale  system  defined  by  Bach  as  ''well- 
tempered."  And  if  the  matter  be  looked  frankly  in 
the  face  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  appearance 
of  extreme  modulations  in  the  works  not  only  of 
such  a  rash  speculator  as  John  Bull,  but  also  of 
such  a  serious-minded  man  as  Orlando  Gibbons, 
gives  very  strong  grounds  for  thinking  that  a  system 
at  least  approximating  to  "equal  temperament"  must 
have  been  recognised  and  even  employed  by  musicians 
in  certain  quarters. 

Equal  temperament  was  certainly  not  employed  in 
tuning  organs,  or  in  training  choirs;  but  it  could  easily 
have  been  employed  in  such  a  simple  matter  as  tuning 
the  Virginals  by  adventurous  virtuosi  like  John  Bull; 
and  it  would  have  enabled  him  to  astonish  even  the 


Cothen  165 

more  intelligent  musicians  of  his  time  by  the  execution 
of  modulations  which  under  the  old  system  were  quite 
impossible.  In  any  case  since  such  modulations  are 
actually  found  in  works  of  more  than  a  hundred 
years  before  Bach's  time,  the  inference  is  fair  that 
the  composers  tuned  their  instruments  so  as  to  make 
them  practicable. 

But  whatever  had  happened  earlier,  it  was  inevitable 
that,directly  instrumental  music  began  to  develop,  the 
scale  system  hitherto  in  use  should  require  modification. 
In  the  old  style  of  unaccompanied  choral  music  there 
were  hardly  any  modulations  at  all.  Abstruse  modula- 
tions were  alien  to  the  artistic  objects  of  composers 
who  wrote  under  the  restrictions  of  the  church  modes. 
Even  the  idea  of  what  is  called  a  "key"  was  outside 
their  range;  and  it  only  began  to  dawn  upon  the  minds 
of  musicians  when  the  different  modes  were  assimilated 
to  one  another  by  the  introduction  of  a  few  sharps 
and  fiats.  These  sharps  and  flats  were  not  introduced 
with  any  idea  of  defining  a  key,  but  in  order  to  avoid 
disagreeable  and  harsh  intervals  which  were  alien 
to  the  passionless  style  of  polyphonic  church  music. 
But  when  they  were  introduced,  the  effect  was  to 
obliterate  differences  between  the  Lydian  and  the 
Mixolydian  modes,  and  to  make  even  the  Dorian 
and  the  /Eolian  sound  like  any  commonplace  minor 
mode  of  recent  usage;  and  then  composers,  not  in 
the  least  anticipating  whither  their  road  tended, 
found  pleasure  in  the  subtle  gradations  of  melodic 
relation  produced  by  using  the  same  intervals  of 
the  modal  scale  in  the  different  aspects  which  the 
"musica  ficta"  admitted. 

This  to  a  modern  mind  appears  supremely  elcmen- 


1 66  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

tary  and  almost  childish.  But  if  such  an  abstraction 
can  be  thought  of  as  a  musician  who  had  never  known  a 
pianoforte  with  more  than  the  white  keys,  and  then 
had  discovered  a  black  one  representing  a  new  semi- 
tone between  A  and  B,  it  would  be  easy  to  imagine 
the  aesthetic  joy  which  the  melodic  alternation  of  A  B, 
and  A  B  flat  would  present  to  him.  And  if  to  the  scale 
of  white  notes  with  B  flat  added,  another  note  between 
D  and  E  were  added,  the  E  flat  seems  to  extend 
the  possibilities  of  music  to  a  surprising  degree.  For 
not  only  does  it  offer  the  opportunity  of  ringing  the 
changes  between  D  E  and  D  E  flat,  or  between  F  E  and 
F  E  flat,  but  it  also  admits  of  a  totally  new  grouping 
of  harmonies  round  the  B  flat. 

Under  the  old  unmodified  system  a  chord  could  not 
stand  on  B  because  the  fifth  would  be  a  dissonant. 
When  the  B  was  altered  to  B  flat,  it  made  a 
perfect  fifth  with  F,  but  an  ugly  tritone  with  E 
natural.  But  when  that  was  modified  to  E  flat, 
composers  soon  realised  that  an  entire  new  scale 
system  could  start  from  that  B  flat — a  mode,  indeed, 
representing  the  Ionic  mode, — and  then,  by  applying  a 
modification  of  the  scale  which  had  been  devised  for  one 
purpose  to  another  which  was  in  no  way  anticipated, 
a  new  feature  of  the  utmost  importance  was  introduced 
into  music;  and  the  effect  of  alternating  passages  con- 
sistent with  the  Doric  mode  starting  from  D,  with  pas- 
sages starting  from  B  flat  and  centralised  round  it, 
suggested  the  value  of  change  of  key  as  an  element  of 
design  or  organisation. 

When  instrumental  music  came  to  be  cultivated, 
the  fact  that  instruments  could  take  many  intervals 
which  were  not  natural  to  voices  unaccompanied  soon 


Cothen  167 

made  a  larger  number  of  accidentals  desirable,  and  the 
increase  of  accidentals  led  to  a  wider  range  of  keys. 
And  thus  it  was  that  musicians  began  to  realise  the 
difficulties  of  tuning.  As  long  as  music  did  not  require 
more  than  a  scale  which  could  be  represented  by  the 
white  keys  of  the  organ  or  modern  pianoforte,  with  an 
occasional  accidental  to  avoid  a  disagreeable  or  unvo- 
cal  interval,  no  difficulty  was  presented.  But  when 
the  key  principle  was  realised  and  composers  found 
themselves  impelled  to  modulate  more  freely,  they 
found  that  the  system  of  tuning  which  produced 
the  most  perfect  and  pure  intervals  for  the  limited 
range  of  sounds  required  by  the  old  modal  sys- 
tem entailed  extraneous  keys  being  painfully  out 
of  tune.  And  this  must  have  been  forced  upon 
their  notice  all  the  more  strongly  because  they  had 
been  accustomed  to  purer  harmonies  than  are  ever 
heard  in  modern  times.  Composers  w^hose  tastes  lay  in 
the  direction  of  the  old  style  of  choral  music  thought 
that  music  might  be  restricted  to  a  few  keys,  and  were 
loth  to  abandon  the  system  known  as  unequal  tem- 
perament. But  composers  who  realised  instinctively 
that  scales  are  purely  artificial  contrivances  devised 
for  artistic  needs,  and  those  who  foresaw  that  when 
once  the  key-system  was  recognised  it  was  impossible 
to  restrict  the  range  of  modulation  (since  the  relative 
range  of  modulations  starting  from  different  given 
points  would  be  unequal),  made  up  their  minds  that 
the  system  of  equal  distribution  of  the  imperfec- 
tions over  all  the  components  of  the  scale  must  be 
adopted,  and  that,  in  point  of  fact,  all  the  semitones 
must  be  practically  equal  whatever  they  were  in 
theory. 


i68  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

And  this  was  the  system  of  equal  temperament  to 
which  J.  S.  Bach  gave  his  unequivocal  adhesion  by 
putting  together  this  collection  of  Preludes  and  Fugues 
in  all  possible  keys.  He  was  thus  in  the  very  forefront 
of  progressive  musicians  of  his  time,  and  his  action  has 
been  endorsed  by  the  subsequent  trend  of  modern  music. 
For  it  is  obvious  that  even  the  system  of  organisation 
upon  which  the  sonatas  of  the  classical  sonata  period 
are  based  would  have  been  impossible  unless  the  range 
of  modulations  was  equal  in  every  direction;  and  we 
owe  the  splendours  of  Beethoven's  symphonies,  as 
well  as  the  excessive  elaboration  of  more  recent  music, 
to  the  adoption  of  the  equal  temperament.  Such 
circumstances,  combined  with  the  unique  musical 
interest  and  beauty  of  the  little  works  themselves, 
mark  the  first  series  of  the  collection  known  as  the 
^'Wohltemperirtes  Clavier"  as  one  of  the  most 
epoch-making  productions  in  the  whole  range  of  the 
art  of  music. 

Bach's  energy  in  exploring  the  possibihties  of  secular 
instrumental  music  during  the  time  when  he  was  at 
Cothen  seems  to  have  been  all-embracing.  His  oppor- 
tunities for  hearing  such  music  were  plentiful,  and, 
there  being  no  special  inducements  to  write  choral 
music  on  a  grand  scale,  his  mind  was  more  free  to 
address  itself  to  various  forms  of  this  large  branch  of 
art.  There  seems  little  doubt  that  most  of  his  wonder- 
ful works  for  solo  violin,  whether  unaccompanied  or 
coupled  with  the  clavier,  date  from  this  time.  The 
works  for  solo  violin  unaccompanied  may  be  said  with- 
out exaggeration  to  be  absolutely  unique  in  the  whole 
range  of  music.  There  are  no  compositions  of  the  kind 
by  any  composer  whatever  which  have  such  scope  and 


Cothen  169 

interest,  none  which  lend  themselves  in  such  a  degree 
to  the  highest  gifts  of  interpretation,  and  none  in  which 
such  an  amount  of  noble  expression  and  such  richness 
of  thought  have  been  rendered  possible  for  the  single 
instrument.  Of  Bach's  powers  as  a  violinist  not  much 
can  be  decisively  asserted.  It  is  worth  remembering 
that  music  of  some  kind  rendered  upon  the  violin  was 
one  of  his  first  artistic  experiences,  as  his  father  had 
played  on  a  stringed  instrument  and  had  taught  him 
the  violin  when  he  was  a  child;  and  among  his  duties 
on  his  first  appointment  at  Weimar  was  that  of  playing 
in  the  Duke's  band.  And  we  know  that  he  expressed 
his  liking  for  playing  on  the  viola,  because  he  was  in 
the  middle  of  things. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  the  style  of  violin  music 
was  quite  overwhelmed  in  him  by  the  pre-eminent  in- 
fluences of  the  organ  style;  but  for  that  there  seems 
sufficient  reason  in  the  fact  that  in  his  boyhood  the 
style  of  violin  music  was  but  slightly  differentiated. 
The  violin  had  been  cultivated  throughout  the  seven- 
teenth century,  but  it  was  only  by  very  slow  degrees 
that  its  technical  resources  were  evolved,  that  the  par- 
ticular passages  suited  for  it  were  devised,  and  that  its 
powers  of  expression  in  cantabile  passages  and  its 
capacity  for  rapid  passages  were  so  far  realised  as  to 
serve  as  the  basis  of  the  admirable  exposition  of 
its  true  capabilities  which  is  shown  in  the  works 
of  Vitali,  Bassani,  Corelli,  and  Vivaldi,  and  the 
Italian  violinists  who  succeeded  them.  Though  it 
is  true  that  some  of  Corelli's  works  were  written  early 
enough  for  Bach  to  have  heard  them  in  his  boy- 
hood, it  is  probable  that  most  of  the  violin  music 
which  came  under  his  notice  was  the  product  of  an 


I70  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

earlier  generation,  presenting  but  few  traits  of  distinc- 
tive style,  and  that  organ  music,  which  was  the  one  and 
only  branch  of  instrumental  music  of  which  the  style 
was  decisively  differentiated,  was  the  only  one  upon 
which  his  developing  sensibilities  could  be  decisively 
nurtured. 

Thus  organ  style  became  in  all  things  the  most  per- 
sistent influence  in  determining  Bach's  procedure,  even 
when  he  was  writing  for  an  instrument  so  radically  and 
uncompromisingly  different  as  the  violin.  The  violin 
is  primarily  a  melodic  instrument,  the  organ  is  most 
emphatically  not  so;  the  violin  has  infinite  capacity  for 
expressive  variation  of  tone,  like  a  voice,  the  organ  has 
none  except  such  as  is  arrived  at  by  mechanical  devices; 
the  violin  is  a  single-part  instrument,  the  organ  essen- 
tially and  necessarily  a  many-part  instrument.  With- 
out entering  further  into  their  oppositions,  the  contrast 
between  them  is  summed  up  in  the  analogy  which 
their  natures  suggest.  The  organ  has  often  been  called 
the  king  of  instruments;  and  if  justly  so  the  violin  may 
fairly  be  called  the  queen. 

But  of  these  radical  differences  of  nature  Bach  was 
neither  unaware  nor  inapt  to  take  advantage.  No 
composer  ever  had  a  finer  sense  of  the  free  and  sensi- 
tively expressive  type  of  melody,  which  the  violin  has 
a  pre-eminent  capacityfor  presenting,  than  John  Sebas- 
tian. He  shows  the  type  in  many  of  the  arioso  recita- 
tives for  solo  voices  in  cantatas  and  other  great  works 
of  the  kind.  The  melody  of  the  violin,  moreover,  being 
free  from  words,  left  him  more  untrammelled  both  by 
association  and  by  the  constraint  of  submission  to 
actual  syllables  to  soar  away  from  conventions  and 
formulas  into  the  region  of  introspective  emotional- 


Cothen  171 

ism  which  was  dear  to  his  Teutonic  nature.  Moreover, 
no  composer  ever  had  a  happier  sense  of  vivacious, 
merry,  sparkling  dance  measures  such  as  the  violin  is  so 
ideally  fitted  to  present,  and  for  which  the  organ  is  so 
utterly  ill  suited.  So  the  aspects  in  which  the  organ 
style  is  discernible  in  his  violin  music  are,  after 
all,  confined  to  such  as  do  not  seriously  affect 
its  real  appositeness;  consisting  mainly  in  the 
use  of  types  of  passages  which  were  familiar  in 
organ  music  but  also  capable  of  being  rendered 
on  the  violin,  and  in  the  use  of  contrapuntal  texture, 
and  the  suggestion  of  suspensions  and  large  pro- 
gressions of  harmony,  to  which  the  attitude  of  a 
mind  nurtured  in  organ  music  preferably  resorted. 
The  extraordinary  difikulties  which  his  solo  music  pre- 
sents impelled  violinists  ultimately  to  develop  a  special 
phase  of  technique  to  conquer  them,  because  the  music 
is  in  itself  so  supremely  great  and  noble  that  high- 
minded  performers  could  not  rest  satisfied  till  they 
found  the  way  to  master  it.  And  hence  it  has 
come  about  ultimately  that  these  solo  works  are 
regarded  as  among  the  most  convincing  proofs  of 
the  powers  of  interpretation  of  the  foremost  violinists 
of  later  times. 

The  principal  collection  of  these,  which  Bach  in 
all  probability  completed  during  the  time  when  he 
was  at  Cothen,  consists  of  six  works,  three  of  which  are, 
technically,  suites  and  three  sonatas.  The  distinction 
between  these  two  forms  had  been  growing  by  degrees 
during  the  previous  century,  and  found  its  complete 
establishment  in  the  types  of  the  Sonata  da  camera  and 
the  Sonata  da  chiesa  of  Corelli;  the  suite  or  sonata  da 
camera    being    constituted   of    movements    founded 


172  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

mainly  upon  dance  forms,  and  the  sonatas  upon 
more  serious  abstract  forms.  In  the  grouping  of 
these  works  which  Bach  adopted,  sonatas  alter- 
nate with  suites:  the  sonatas  coming  first,  third,  and 
fifth,  and  the  suites,  here  called  ''  Partien,"  second, 
fourth,  and  sixth.  Each  of  the  sonatas  begins  with 
a  slow  movement  in  the  free  rhapsodical  style 
which  he  made  so  essentially  his  own  and  illus- 
trated so  magnificently  in  the  fantasia  for  organ  in  G 
minor.  The  second  m.ovement  is  in  each  case  a  fugue, 
the  third  movement  in  the  first  sonata  is  a  Siciliano 
in  the  relative  major,  and  in  the  other  two  a  slow 
movement,  and  the  fourth  movement  a  brilliant  quick 
movement — the  last  movement  of  the  second  sonata, 
indeed,  is  a  "moto  perpetuo."  Bach's  scheme,  there- 
fore, conforms  to  the  grouping  of  movements  com- 
monly adopted  by  the  Italian  violin  composers  and 
the  miasters  of  other  countries  who  followed  them, 
the  fugue  corresponding  to  the  canzona  of  the  earlier 
composers. 

In  tw^o  of  the  suites  which  he  here  calls  "Partien" 
he  is  also  conservative  in  general  lines;  but  all 
three  have  peculiarities.  The  first  Partita  has  a 
*' double"  or  variation  to  each  of  the  main  con- 
stituents, the  allemande  being  followed  by  a  ''double," 
the  courante  in  turn  by  another,  and  so  also  with 
the  sarabande  and  bourree,  the  latter  of  which 
has  a  brilliant  "  double "  to  conclude  with.  This 
suite,  therefore,  has  the  comparatively  rare  feature 
of  ending  with  one  of  the  group  of  movements 
which  were  technically  called  ''Galanterien,"  on  the 
theory  of  their  being  of  lighter  cast  than  the  other 
movements.      It   is    possibly   a   mere    accident    that 


Cothen  173 

the  omission  of  the  gigue  is  amply  compensated 
for  by  the  fact  that  the  bourree  in  question  is  one 
of  Bach's  most  attractive  and  characteristic  move- 
ments for  the  solo  violin.  The  second  Partita  in 
D  minor  is  quite  regular  in  its  first  four  constituents, 
having  allemande,  courante,  sarabande,  and  gigue, 
after  the  most  orthodox  scheme;  but  the  group  is 
followed  by  the  famous  chaconne,  a  series  of  varia- 
tions on  lines  parallel  to  the  time-honoured  "divisions 
on  a  ground,"  but  laid  out  in  such  an  admirable  se- 
quence, so  far-reaching  in  musical  interest,  so  copious 
in  resource,  that  it  holds  its  place  as  one  of  the  most 
important  of  all  movements  ever  written  for  the  instru- 
ment; and  has  in  recent  times  been  one  of  the  favourite 
works  by  which  violinists  of  high  aim  endeavour  to 
prove  the  extent  of  their  intelligence  and  their  tech- 
nique to  sympathetic  audiences.  The  movement  is 
often  played  without  the  suite,  as  it  is  of  very  ample 
length. 

The  third  Partita,  which  is  in  E  major  and  stands 
last  of  the  set,  is  for  the  most  part  a  speculative  group. 
It  begins  with  a  brilliant  prelude  which  was  afterwards 
developed  into  the  symphony  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Rathswahl  Cantata,  JVir  danken  dir  Gott,  of  173 1. 
The  second  movement  is  a  loure,  affording  a  happy 
contrast,  as  the  slow  measure  of  six  beats  in  a  bar  has  a 
somewhat  languorous  character,  even  in  the  hands  of 
the  strenuous  John  Sebastian.  The  third  is  the  wonder- 
ful gavotte  "en  rondeau,"  which  is  one  of  the  favourites 
with  violinists  and  the  public,  and  forms  an  admirable 
contrast  to  the  loure;  and  the  remaining  movements  are 
two  minuets,  a  bourree  in  E  minor,  and  a  short  gigue 
to  conclude  with.    John  Sebastian  did  not  often  venture 


174  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

on  a  speculative  group  of  this  kind,  because  his  in- 
vention and  resources  were  equal  to  making  something 
new  without  forsaking  the  old  order.  He  was  in  the 
position  of  a  man  who  found  copious  work  to  do,  ready 
to  his  hand,  and  was  content  to  grapple  with  that  and 
not  leave  undone  what  needed  to  be  done  in  order  to 
gratify  curiosity  in  regions  beyond  the  field  which 
remained  as  yet  incompletely  tilled.  But  nevertheless 
it  is  interesting  to  observe  the  scheme  of  a  rare  example 
of  the  speculative  order,  and  to  notice  with  what  perfect 
insight  he  devised  it;  and  it  is  worth  noting  also  that 
it  comes  last  in  the  series,  where  wholesome  sanity 
would  naturally  place  it,  and  that  the  only  conspicuous 
parallel  among  his  works  in  speculativeness  of  a  similar 
kind  is  in  the  sets  of  movements  for  clavier,  which  he 
also  called  Partitas,  and  brought  together  in  the  latter 
part  of  his  life. 

In  respect  of  regularity  of  order,  the  six  superb 
suites  for  the  violoncello,  which  were  also  probably 
written  during  his  time  at  Cothen,  are  conspicuous. 
Each  has  a  prelude,  sometimes  of  even  vast  expanse, 
and  the  remaining  series  are  in  the  accepted  order,  like 
the  clavier  suites,  and  vary  only  in  the  lighter  move- 
ments or  **Galanterien,"  which  are  minuets  in  the  first 
and  second  suites,  bourrees  in  the  third  and  fourth,  and 
gavottes  in  the  fifth  and  sixth.  A  noteworthy  point 
is  that  the  fifth  suite  is  written  for  a  violoncello  un- 
usually tuned  in  C,  G,  D,  G — for  special  effect;  and 
the  last  is  written  for  an  instrument  with  five  strings, 
which  is  inferred  to  have  been  not  a  violoncello  but  a 
''Viola  pomposa,"  an  instrument  which  Bach  himself 
is  said  to  have  invented. 

A  yet  further  group  of  very  important  compositions 


Cothen  175 

which  seem  to  date  from  the  Cothen  period  is  that  of 
six  sonatas  for  vioHn  and  cembalo.  The  schemes  of 
these  are  more  speculative;  and  the  plan  and  compo- 
nents of  the  movements  themselves  are  often  most  char- 
acteristic. They  all  end  with  lively  movements, all  have 
slow  movements  last  but  one.  But  the  typical  quasi- 
fugal  second  movem.ent  representing  the  canzona  of 
earlier  times  is  either  absent  or  transformed  into  a 
very  rhythmic  and  vivacious  contrapuntal  movement; 
and  the  first  movement  is  sometimes  slow,  in  Bach's 
unsurpassable  rhapsodical  manner,  as  in  the  first  so- 
nata in  B  minor  and  the  third  in  E  major,  and  in 
other  cases  of  various  experimental  types.  The  total 
impression  conveyed  by  some  of  these  speculations  in 
grouping  is  not  always  convincing,  but  the  first  sonata 
in  B  minor  is  one  of  the  composer's  most  perfect  and 
delightful  works  of  this  class,  the  first  movement 
especially  being  supremely  interesting  and  beautiful; 
and  those  in  A  No.  2  and  E  major  No.  3  are  of  superb 
quality.  Bach  produced  many  isolated  works  of  the 
same  type  as  these;  such  as  a  very  fine  Sonata  for 
Violin  and  Clavier  in  E  miinor  (Peters  T.  V.  I.  696,  etc.) 
and  sonatas  for  flute  and  cembalo,  which,  as  music, 
are  thoroughly  delightful  and  interesting,  but  do  not 
exclusively  show  off  the  character  of  the  flute,  and 
are  often  played  by  the  violin. 

Among  the  most  important  of  Bach's  secular  instru- 
mental works  are  the  four  "overtures"  for  orchestra, 
which  also  were  probably  produced  during  this  period. 
They  are  generally  spoken  of  as  suites,  but  the  name 
overture,  which  Bach  seems  to  have  given  them,  gains 
in  this  case  no  little  importance  through  what  it  im- 
plies.    There  can  be  no  doubt,  indeed,  that  Bach  was 


176  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

experimenting  in  these  works  in  the  most  extended 
form  of  the  French  overture. 

This  overture  comprised  several  movements,  the 
most  prominent  of  which  are  the  massive  opening 
slow  movement,  and  the  movement  of  fugal  or  "can- 
zona"  type  which  followed  it;  and  this  sometimes 
constituted  the  whole  overture,  both  in  Lulli's  case  and 
in  the  large  number  of  overtures  by  countless  com- 
posers who  employed  the  same  form  in  connection  with 
operas,  stage  plays,  oratorios,  and  cantatas.  But  it 
may  safely  be  inferred  that  when  composers  pro- 
duced works  ostensibly  on  the  lines  of  the  LuUian  or 
French  overture,  to  be  played  as  instrumental  works 
apart  from  operas  or  oratorios,  they  adopted  the  more 
extended  form  in  which  the  two  opening  movements 
are  followed  by  a  number  of  dance  movements.  Admira- 
ble examples  of  this  kind  of  work  had  been  produced 
before  Bach's  time  by  Georg  Muffat,  who  confessedly 
came  under  Lulli's  influence  in  the  earlier  part  of  his 
career,  and  Bach  evidently  had  this  type  in  his  mind 
rather  than  the  suite  type  in  composing  the  group  of 
*' overtures." 

The  result  is  in  every  way  notable;  for  the  treat- 
ment throws  light  on  the  form  of  art  itself  as  well  as 
on  Bach's  methods.  In  the  first  place,  his  treatment 
of  the  opening  slow  movement  shows  his  atti- 
tude of  mind  in  relation  to  the  enrichment  of  an  estab- 
lished scheme.  He  has,  indeed,  so  expanded  and 
adorned  the  primitive  Lullian  model  that  at  first  sight 
it  is  almost  unrecognisable.  To  those  who  cannot 
easily  make  acquaintance  with  the  genuine  Lullian 
examples,  the  familiar  slow  movement  of  the  overture 
to   The  Messiah  will  quite  adequately   represent  the 


Cothcn  177 

type; as,  apart  from  the  Handelian  flavour  and  solidity 
of  harmony,  that  movement  is  purely  Lullian  in  its 
unadorned  simplicity.  It  represents  the  massive,  slowly 
moving  harmonies  and  the  weighty  suspensions  of  the 
Lullian  type  without  any  attempt  to  disguise  or  adorn 
it  with  accessory  features.  In  Bach's  examples  the 
same  basis  is  present — the  grand  harmonies  and  the 
suspensions  and  forcible  discords, — but  they  serve  only 
as  a  framework  upon  which  Bach  elaborates  the  superb 
texture  of  fine  instrumental  passages,  shakes,  turns, 
and  ornaments  of  all  kinds,  which  make  every  moment 
and  every  progression  alive  with  genuine  instrumental 
eflfect  and  interest. 

This  method  of  treating  the  form  also  lends  itself  to 
more  close  consistency  and  coherence  in  the  musical 
material.  In  the  Lullian  type  there  is  little  beyond  the 
mere  consistency  of  style  to  make  the  movement  co- 
herent in  detail,  any  more  than  there  is  in.  the  slow 
movement  of  Handel's  Messiah  overture.  But  with 
the  method  employed  by  Bach  the  figuration  and  use  of 
ornament  at  once  give  definiteness  to  the  texture,  and 
suggest  inevitably  the  use  of  something  in  the  nature 
of  a  musical  subject;  and  the  use  of  definite  ideas 
of  the  kind  places  the  organisation  of  the  movement 
at  once  on  a  higher  plane.  The  process  represents  the 
familiar  phase  of  differentiation  and  systematisation 
which  is  so  characteristic  of  evolution,  and  shows  the 
justness  of  Bach's  sense  of  the  requirements  of  instru- 
mental music. 

Thus,  in  the  slow  movement  with  which  the  first 
overture  in  C  commences,  the  first  few  bars  present  a 
definite  passage  of  long  notes  and  semiquaver  figures, 
which  at  once  decisively  attracts  the  attention,  and 


178  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 


becomes  the  musical  type  of  idea  which  persists  there- 
after throughout  the  movement,  and  thereby  definitely 
unifies  it. 


The  opening  passage  of  the  slow  movement  which 
commences  the  second  overture  in  B  minor  is  even 
more  definite  as  a  subject,  with  shakes  and  a  fine 
bold  melodic  character,  which  by  reason  of  its  very 
decisiveness  cannot  thenceforward  be  dropped  without 
an  appearance  of  inconsequence,  and  therefore  makes 
the  movement  even  more  closely  knit  than  the  slow 
movement  of  the  first  "overture."  The  slow  move- 
ment of  the  third  overture  in  D  (commonly  known  as 
the  great  orchestral  suite  in  D  and  the  most  popular 
of  the  group  of  works)  is  fully  as  decisive  in  its  opening 
phrases,  and  the  movement  is  developed  on  a  grander 
scale  than  the  others.     The  fourth  of  the  group,  also 


Cothcn  179 

in  D,  has  a  definite  figure  also  in  the  initial  slow  move- 
ment, which  prevails  throughout  and  unifies  it  ad- 
mirably, though  it  is  not  so  striking  as  the  formulas 
which  serve  as  the  governing  ideas  in  the  overture  in 
B  minor  and  the  other  in  D.  It  must  be  observed,  also, 
that  the  style  of  these  movements  must  have  been 
specially  congenial  to  Bach  through  habits  of  musical 
thought  begotten  by  early  experiences  of  organ  style, 
as  the  massive  chord-basis  linked  by  suspensions  is 
just  the  type  which  finds  most  adequate  expression  in 
the  stvle  of  organ  music. 

Bach's  treatment  of  the  quick  fugal  movement  which 
comes  second  in  this  form  of  art  is  quite  equally  sug- 
gestive. At  the  outset  the  recognition  of  the  kinship 
with  the  French  overture  is  illustrated  by  the  extreme 
shortness,  amounting  even  to  insignificance,  of  all  the 
fugal  subjects ;  a  feature  which  had  been  conspicuous 
in  Lulli's  examples,  in  which  they  are  little  more  than 
suggestions  of  types  of  motion,  without  regular  fugal 
development.  Bach  could  not  help  using  his  subjects 
more  systematically  than  Lulli  had  done,  but  as  fugues 
the  movements  are  of  a  very  unusual  character.  In  the 
first  overture  in  C  major,  for  instance,  the  movement 
comes  to  a  close  in  that  key  at  the  end  of  the  exposition, 
and  then  follows  a  long  passage  in  which  three  wind  in- 
struments toy  with  the  subjects  in  a  playful  manner, 
which  is  actually  marked  "  trio."  Similar  episodes  recur 
throughout  the  fugue,  sometimes  slenderly  accom- 
panied by  the  strings,  but  so  distributed  that  an  excel- 
lent scheme  of  organisation  is  presented  together  with 
plenty  of  variety  of  a  simple  and  definite  kind.  An 
analogous  procedure  is  adopted  in  the  second  overture 
in  B  minor,  but  inasmuch  as  it  is  only  scored  for  flute 


i8o  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

and  strings  a  similar  end  is  attained  by  episodes  in 
which  the  flute  has  briUiant  passages  accompanied 
Hghtly  by  the  strings,  alternating  with  the  passages 
in  which  the  whole  mass  of  the  strings  vigorously  deals 
with  the  principal  subject.  In  the  third,  the  most 
important  of  these  overtures,  the  scheme  is  more  elabor- 
ate, because  there  are  three  groups  of  instruments,  the 
brass  consisting  of  three  trumpets,  with  drums  at- 
tendant, the  wood-wind  consisting  of  the  two  hautboys, 
and  the  third  group  being  the  mass  of  the  strings.  In 
this  the  alternation  is  made  mainly  by  the  manner  in 
which  the  brass  instruments  come  in  at  definite  inter- 
vals, marking  special  parts  of  the  scheme  by  exceptional 
fulness.  In  the  fourth  the  band  is  even  larger,  for 
there  are  three  hautboys  and  bassoons  as  well  as  the 
trumpets  and  the  strings;  and  contrasts  of  fulness  are 
obtained  by  one  episode  mainly  for  wind,  and  others 
for  strings  alone,  and  passages,  like  those  in  the  previous 
overture,  in  which  exceptional  fulness  is  obtained  by 
having  many  of  the  instruments  playing  at  once. 

In  such  treatment  as  this  the  notable  difference  be- 
tween Bach's  idea  of  using  the  components  of  the 
orchestra  and  the  modern  conception  is  conspicuous. 
He  practically  uses  them  less  for  their  colour  than 
for  their  fulness,  and  employs  the  effect  of  contrast 
between  full  passages  and  slenderly  orchestrated  pas- 
sages as  an  element  of  design,  much  as  he  would  use 
a  similar  alternation  of  passages  for  full  organ  with 
slighter  passages  for  few  stops  in  his  organ  music — or, 
again,  similar  in  effect  to  the  alternation  of  passages 
for  the  chorus  in  choral  works  with  passages  for  the 
band.  In  other  respects  the  treatment  of  the  instru- 
ments is  the  same  as  that  in  the  Brandenburg  Con- 


Cothcn  i8i 

certos,  which  has  been  already  discussed  (p.  1 19),  and 
need  not  be  recapitulated. 

The  two  first  movements  afTord  a  \cry  quaint  illus- 
tration of  a  singular  characteristic  of  Bach,  who  some- 
times, it  must  be  confessed,  strangely  lost  sight  of 
expediency  in  faithfulness  to  his  models,  ['or,  though 
the  quasi-fugues  are  of  enormous  length,  he  returns  to 
his  opening  slow  movement  when  each  fugue  comes  to 
an  end  and  then  gives  the  direction  for  the  fugue  to  be 
played  all  over  again.  It  suggests  to  the  mind  that  he 
did  not  very  often  hear  these  works  played  himself. 
With  regard  to  the  rest  of  the  movements  of  the  over- 
tures, the  kinship  with  the  French  model,  and  with 
Muffat's  "  Florilegia,"  is  shown  in  the  number  of  dance 
movements  of  the  liveliest  character  which  follow  the 
two  serious  opening  movements.  In  these  Bach's  geni- 
ality is  shown  in  its  very  frankest  guise,  and  it  manifests 
itself  in  a  singular  and  almost  unique  phase;  for  none 
of  the  movements  however,  gay  and  merry,  ever  lose 
the  distinction  of  noble  art.  Nobody  but  J.  S.  Bach 
ever  succeeded  in  presenting  such  sparkling  gaiety  and 
fun  in  such  fme  and  manly  terms.  However  freely  they 
sparkle  and  play,  they  are  never  trivial,  but  bear  even 
in  the  lightest  moments  the  impress  of  the  great  mind 
and  the  essentially  sincere  character  of  the  composer. 

Among  the  works  which  show  that  Bach's  attachment 
to  the  organ  and  to  the  music  of  religion  was  not  exting- 
uished during  the  Cothen  period,  is  the  lovable  little  col- 
lection to  which  he  gave  the  title  of  "Orgel-Blichlcin," 
consisting  of  short  movements  for  the  organ  based  on 
chorales,  which  must  have  been  brought  up  to  the  con- 
dition in  which  it  has  since  remained,  in  spite  of  incom- 
pleteness, during  the  period  when  his  opportunities  were 


i82  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

mainly  in  the  domain  of  secular  instrumental  music. 

In  view  of  the  nature  of  its  contents  it  may  be  of 
service  to  point  out  here  that  the  various  ways  in  which 
German  composers  dealt  with  chorales  in  compositions 
for  the  organ  were  strictly  classified  by  them  into  three 
groups,  the  'Xhoralfantasie,"  the  "  Choral vorspiel," 
and  the  "Orgelchoral."  In  modern  times,  for  the 
avoidance  of  confusion  and  misapprehension,  it  has 
been  usual  for  writers  who  address  those  who  are  not 
intimate  with  the  German  technicalities  to  speak  of 
such  works  generally  as  " Choral vorspiele"  or  ''Chorale- 
preludes."  But  to  the  exact  German  mind  this  would 
be  misleading.  The  ''Choralfantasie"  was  the  larger 
form  in  which  the  phrases  of  their  loved  chorales  were 
introduced  bodily  with  infinite  adornment  of  expressive 
polyphony.  Their  nature  was  more  or  less  determined 
by  the  fact  that  they  were  independent  works  of  art, 
whereas  the  "Choral  vorspiel"  was  dependent  as  a  prelude 
on  the  chorale  which  was  to  be  sung  in  the  church  ser- 
vice, and  therefore  avoided  the  too  obvious  presentation 
of  the  melodies,  so  that  they  might  come  more  freshly 
from  the  congregation.  The  "Orgelchoral"  was  a  much 
smaller  movement,  merely  taking  a  tune  in  its  complete 
form  straight  through,  and  arranging  it  with  parts  in  in- 
strumental style,  which  emphasised  the  expression  of  the 
tune  or  the  words  to  which  it  belonged  by  all  the  subtlest 
devices  of  harmonisation  and  of  characteristic  figure 
and  ornament  which  the  composer  had  at  his  disposal. 

Bach  produced  an  enormous  number  of  exquisite 
little  movements  of  this  kind,  and  the^Orgel-Blichlein  " 
was  probably  the  first  collection  he  made  of  such  as 
had  been  written  at  various  times;  many,  no  doubt,  at 
Weimar,  others  at  Cothen,  and  the  whole  representing 


Cothen  183 

his  activity  in  this  range  up  to  about  the  year  1723. 
In  the  title-page  it  is  implied  that  they  were  intended  as 
educational  pieces,  for  the  enhancement  of  the  powers 
of  young  organists,  primarily,  no  doubt,  Friedemann — 
and  happy  indeed  the  learner  who  should  develop  his 
powers  in  the  study  of  such  singularly  attractive  little 
works.  Another  point  which  is  characteristic  of  Bach 
is  that  they  were  intended  to  follow  the  order  in  which 
the  chorales  would  properly  follow  one  another  in  the 
actual  scheme  of  the  Lutheran  Church  for  the  whole 
year;  but  here  the  mission  of  the  series  was  not  entirely 
fulfilled,  for  Bach  did  not  actually  complete  it,  and  the 
number  of  movements  does  not  exceed  forty-six. 

There  are  several  blank  pages  in  the  MS.,  and  in  some 
of  these  the  names  of  the  chorales  which  were  intended 
to  occupy  them  are  given,  sometimes  even  with  short 
passages  of  music  indicating  the  character  the  move- 
ments were  to  have.  The  variety  of  fancy  and  resource 
of  the  little  movements  is  quite  phenomenal.  Every 
individual  chorale  is  treated  with  some  special  charac- 
teristic figure  in  accompaniment,  sometimes  tender, 
sometimes  mournful,  sometimes  animated  and  vigorous, 
in  accordance  with  the  sentiment  of  the  tune  or  the 
words.  Some  have  simple  figures  which  persist  through- 
out, after  the  type  of  many  of  the  preludes  in  the  first 
part  of  the  "  Wohltemperirtes  Qavier,"  some  are  elab- 
orately contrapuntal  in  the  instrumental  style,  in  a 
great  many  there  are  admirably  contrived  canons.  In 
some  the  tune  is  given  simply,  in  others  in  variation 
with  appropriate  adornments. 

I  n  every  one  some  new  artistic  scheme  is  presented  and 
worked  out  with  the  most  delicate  finish.  There  is  hardly 
any  work  of  Bach's  which  brings  the  hearer  into  more  in- 


184  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

timate  relations  with  him,  or  one  more  suffused  with  his 
personahty.  His  deep  love  of  the  national  chorales  made 
him  deal  with  them  as  an  artist  might  who  had  to  make 
a  casket  for  some  inestimable  treasure  which  deeply 
moved  his  romantic  and  imaginative  faculties  and 
through  them  brought  into  play  his  highest  artistic 
powers.  It  is,  indeed,  not  a  work  for  the  public  at  all, 
but  for  those  who  can  enter  into  converse  with  a  great 
mind  in  the  things  which  meant  most  to  him.  The  best 
of  them  are  even  more  intimate  than  the  movements  of 
the  ''Wohltemperirtes  Clavier,"  and  reveal  the  deep-set 
nature  of  the  composer  in  a  mannerwhich  sometimes  al- 
most brings  tears  to  the  trembling  verge,  and  at  others 
raises  the  loving  smile.  For  if,  on  the  one  hand,  we  see 
him  overborne  by  his  besetting  temptation  to  emphasise 
an  idea  with  a  semi-humorous  stroke  of  realistic  sug- 
gestion— as  in  the  quaint  jumping-down  passage  given 
to  the  pedals  in  the  chorale  ''Through  Adam's  fall  is 

4^ ^ 


^z zm I. 


P^i 


all  undone,"  on  the  other  hand  we  see  how  universal  is 
the  rule  that  only  subjects  which  appeal  to  his  humanity 
most  deeply  bring  out  his  most  wonderful  art  works. 
The  world  does  well  to  wonder  at  the  scope  of  his 
great  choruses  and  choral  motets,  but  in  them  the  idea 
of  a  public  audience  of  some  sort  is  necessarily  im- 
plied. In  the  organ-chorale  and  kindred  works.  Bach 
seems  to  be  communing  with  his  own  spirit,  to  be  pos- 
sessed with  the  soul-question  which  is  embodied  in  the 
sacred  hymn,  and  to  discourse  spontaneously  in  those 
terms  of  temperamental  reflection  which  are  the  special 
prerogative  of  the  musical  art.    For  the  study  of  the 


Cothen  185 

temperamental  personality  of  Bach's  "Orgelchorale," 
which  stand  out  from  the  rest  through  their  exceptional 
interest  and  moving  qualities,  exactly  confirms  the  clues 
which  would  be  afforded  by  the  special  church  cantatas 
which  stand  out  from  the  rest  on  similar  grounds. 

Far  in  the  forefront  of  the  collection  stands  O  Afensch, 
heivein  dein  Siinde  gross,  where  the  composer  seems  to 
have  had  his  faculties  at  the  highest  pitch  of  insight  and 
concentration  from  first  to  last.  And  among  the  most 
characteristic  and  personal  of  his  works  of  this  kind  may 
also  be  put  IVenn  wir  in  hochsien  Noihen  sein,M it  Fried' 
und  Freud'  ich  jahr'  dahin,  Das  alte  Jahr  vergangen  ist, 
and  the  two  rather  unusual  experiments,  Ich  ruf  {n  dir, 
Herr  Jesu  Christ  and  Komm,  Goit  Schopfer,  heiliger 
Gcist,  the  scheme  of  which  last  evidently  attracted  him 
so  much  that  he  expanded  it  later  in  life  into  very  much 
more  spacious  proportions  (see  p.  538) .  It  is  evident  that 
the  writing  of  "Orgelchorale"  and  works  of  kindred 
type  must  have  continued  throughout  the  whole  of 
Bach's  life,  as  a  sort  of  undercurrent  and,  he  brought 
many  more  together  at  various  periods  towards  the 
close  of  his  life,  in  which  appeared  some  wonderful  in- 
nermost human  documents  of  the  very  greatest  fasci- 
nation, such  as  Schmiicke  dich  and  several  in  the  third 
series  of  the  "Clavier-ubung."  And  finally  this  form  of 
art  has  most  pathetic  associations, for  the  last  work  that 
he  touched  upon  his  deathbed  was  in  this  form,  as  will 
be  related  in  its  place.  Hence  the  "Orgel-Bijchlcin" 
has  an  accession  of  interest  even  besides  that  of  its  con- 
tents, as  being  his  first  manifestation  of  a  line  of  art 
which  reached  from  that  time  till  the  end,  and  whose 
methods,  indeed,  underlay  a  great  deal  of  the  most  in- 
teresting portions  of  his  church  cantatas  and  oratorios. 


CHAPTER  V 

LEIPZIG 

It  appears  from  a  passage  in  a  letter  of  Bach's  written 
in  1730  that  about  the  year  1722  he  felt  that  his  master, 
the  Prince  of  Anhalt-Cothen,  was  becoming  lukewarm 
towards  music  owing  to  his  marriage  with  a  lady  who 
had  no  taste  for  it,  and  that  the  time  had  come  for  him 
to  look  for  a  post  where  his  field  of  work  would  be  wider 
and  more  productive  of  results.  It  was  in  this  year 
that  Johann  Kuhnau,  the  versatile  and  distinguished 
cantor  of  the  St.  Thomas  School  in  Leipzig,  died,  and 
John  Sebastian  was  moved  to  enter  for  the  post.  How- 
ever, he  did  not  do  so  imimediately,  for  the  council 
actually  appointed  G.  P.  Telemann,  a  musician  of  very 
considerable  repute,  at  the  end  of  the  year.  But  Tele- 
mann declined  to  accept  some  of  the  conditions  which 
they  imposed,  and  retired,  and  it  miust  have  been  shortly 
afterwards  that  Bach  definitely  offered  himself. 

In  February,  1723,  he  went  to  Leipzig  in  order  to 
make  some  manifestations  of  his  powers;  and,  after 
the  conditions — ^which  included  giving  certain  lessons 
in  Latin  weekly  to  the  lower  class  of  boys — had  been 
considered  and  accepted,  the  council  elected  him.  The 
appointment  was  confirmed  on  May  8th  and  Bach  was 
installed  on  May  3 1  st.  He  did  not  entirely  sever  his  con- 

i86 


Leipzig  187 

nection  with  Collicii,  as  the  Prince  desired  him  lo  be 
his  honorary  Kapelhiieisler,  but  his  active  connection 
with  that  court  ceased,  and  a  new  and  more  compre- 
hensive field  of  operations  was  opened  to  him  in  which 
he  exercised  his  great  powers  in  their  highest  maturity 
for  the  remaining  twenty-seven  years  of  his  hfe. 

The  duties  and  responsibilities  of  the  Leipzig  cantor 
were  peculiar,  and  had  no  doubt  grown  up  by  degrees 
as  the  requirements  of  the  school  to  which  he  was  at- 
tached presented  themselves.  In  relation  to  the  per- 
sonality of  John  Sebastian  himself  it  is  worth  observing 
at  the  outset  that  he  was  not  technically  or  officially  the 
organist  of  any  church.  His  position  was  mainly 
to  superintend  the  musical  training  of  the  boys  in 
the  school  and  the  musical  arrangements  of  several 
churches  where  they  had  to  sing.  The  school  was  a 
very  ancient  foundation  which,  from  the  thirteenth 
century  to  the  Reformation,  had  been  under  the  control 
of  Augustinian  monks,  if  the  cantorship  was  insti- 
tuted and  its  duties  defined  in  the  early  days  of  the 
foundation,  this  would  explain  the  fact  that  no  connec- 
tion with  the  organ  is  indicated;  as  that  instrument 
could  have  had  but  a  very  limited  share  in  the  music  of 
the  earlier  centuries  of  the  school's  existence,  and  the 
chief  musician  would  have  been  mainly  concerned  with 
training  the  choir  in  unaccompanied  choral  music.  A 
few  years  after  Leipzig  adopted  the  Reformed  religion, 
the  monastic  foundation  of  St.  Thomas,  including  the 
school,  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  town  council. 
Apart  from  doctrine,  as  was  generally  the  case  in 
Germany,  no  very  great  changes  were  made.  The 
school,  which  had  had  for  its  principal  object  the 
training  of  boys  and  young  men  for  the  adequate  per- 


i88  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

formance  of  the  music  required  in  the  services  of  the 
church,  was  still  maintained  for  that  purpose;  and  the 
number  of  scholarships  established  was  even  increased 
till  they  amounted  finally  to  fifty-five.  The  connection 
between  church  and  school  remained  as  close  as  before, 
and  the  cantor's  most  essential  duties  were  thus  to  pre- 
pare the  boys  in  the  music  which  had  to  be  performed, 
and  to  keep  them  in  order;  and  to  superintend  and 
direct  the  performance  of  music  in  the  functions  of 
the  church  on  Sundays,  and  on  some  other  special  oc- 
casions, such  as  a  few  saints'  days  and  great  festivals 
like  Christmas-day  and  New  Year's-day  and  Ascen- 
sion-day, and  also  at  funerals  and  weddings. 

The  scheme  of  the  music  for  which  the  cantor  was 
responsible  seems  to  have  been  clearly  defined.  It  is 
to  be  noted  that  he  was  not  only  responsible  for  the 
direction  of  the  music  at  St.  Thomas's  Church,  but 
also  at  that  of  St.  Nicholas,  which  was  the  other  most 
important  church  in  the  town,  and  in  many  cases  the 
same  choir  served  both  churches  in  turn.  It  was  a 
rule  that  a  motet  and  church  cantata  should  be  per- 
formed every  Sunday  of  the  year,  and  to  render  this 
possible  they  were  performed  in  each  of  the  churches 
on  alternate  Sundays;  only  on  such  special  festivals  as 
the  New  Year,  Epiphany,  Ascension-day,  Trinity  Sun- 
day, and  the  Feast  of  the  Annunciation,  the  full  musical 
panoply  was  presented  in  both  churches,  the  choir 
performing  the  same  music  in  the  morning  at  one  church 
and  in  the  afternoon  in  the  other.  Such  requirements 
had  considerable  influence  both  on  the  scope  and  char- 
acter of  Bach's  activity  in  church  music  during  his 
Leipzig  time,  as  it  was  the  necessity  of  providing  musi- 
cal works  for  so  many  occasions  which  caused  him  to 


St.  Thomas  Churcn,  Leipzig 

From  Die  Musik,  October,   190^, 
(Courtesy  of  Messrs.  Schuster  &  Loet'ller,  Btrlin.) 


Leipzig  189 

produce  such  an  enormous  number  of  church  cantatas 
in  the  latter  part  of  his  Hfe. 

The  foundation  of  St.  Thomas  had  actually  to  supply 
the  choirs  for  four  churches  in  Leipzig:  as  it  had  to  pro- 
vide for  the  "New"  Church,  which  had  been  the  Church 
of  the  Franciscans  before  the  Reformation,  but  had 
apparently  been  disused  from  that  time  till  1699,  and 
also  for  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  as  well  as  for  the  more 
important  churches  above  mentioned,  of  St.  Thomas 
and  St.  Nicholas;  but  inasmuch  as  the  scheme  of  music 
in  the  less  important  churches  was  comparatively  in- 
significant, the  cantor's  duties  in  connection  with  them 
extended  no  further  than  the  choice  of  chorales  and 
motets.  For  the  music  for  special  funerals  and  wed- 
dings the  cantor  was  responsible,  and  probably  no 
negligible  portion  of  his  income  was  derived  from  the 
fees  payable  in  connection  with  them;  and  he  was 
expected  to  attend  the  funeral  processions  in  person. 
The  cantor's  income  was  very  slender,  and  could  hardly 
have  amounted  to  more  than  ;£  70  a  year,  even  when 
funerals  and  weddings  with  musical  adjuncts  were 
plentiful,  and  when  the  curious  custom  of  the  scholars 
going  round  the  town  to  collect  money  for  singing  (of 
which  the  cantor  was  allowed  a  small  share)  was 
productive  of  satisfactory  results. 

At  the  time  of  Bach's  appointment  the  St.  Thomas 
School  had  been  for  some  time  in  a  very  unsatisfactory 
state.  Inasmuch  as  it  was  a  charity  school  for  poor 
children  as  well  as  a  nursery  for  choir  boys,  it  drew 
on  a  low  class  of  children  for  the  supply.  Till  just  be- 
fore his  coming,  accommodation  had  been  inadequate, 
illness  frequent,  and  insubordination  general.  Some 
efTorts  had  been  made  in  the  direction  of  amendment, 


iQo  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

but  the  evil  traditions  were  not  successfully  extirpated, 
and  it  is  evident  that  Bach  had  no  very  easy  or  pleas- 
ant task  in  dealing  with  his  charges.  This  is  illus- 
trated by  frequent  references  during  his  Leipzig  period 
to  his  lack  of  success  in  keeping  the  boys  in  order, 
inadequate  musical  results,  and  distaste  on  his  own 
part  for  the  trying  responsibilities  which  were  imposed 
upon  him.  As  a  teacher  of  individual  young  musicians 
the  remarkable  list  of  his  pupils  proves  him  to  have 
been  pre-eminent,  and  his  personal  influence  to  have 
been  powerful;  but  as  a  master  of  unruly  choir  boys, 
who  were  incapable  of  being  impressed  by  his  personal- 
ity, he  was  unsuccessful,  and  his  lack  of  success  gave 
him  a  distaste  for  his  work  in  that  direction. 

But  his  discomforts  did  not  end  there,  for  he  was 
constantly  at  variance  with  the  town  council  and  other 
authoritative  bodies  and  individuals  on  the  subject  of 
fees,  on  the  arrangement  of  his  duties,  and  even  on  such 
a  subject,  not  unknown  to  modern  organists,  as  the 
choice  of  hymns,  which  he  maintained  to  be  in  his  pro- 
vince, and  which  the  subdeacon  of  St.  Nicholas's  Church 
claimed  to  be  his  prerogative.  One  effect  of  these  differ- 
ences and  disputes  is  the  existence  of  a  large  number  of 
documents  in  the  shape  of  letters  and  memoranda  by 
Bach  him.self,  which  are  of  value  as  illustrating  de- 
cisively some  of  his  personal  characteristics.  As  the 
points  dealt  with  are  com.paratively  unimportant,  the 
letters  need  not  be  quoted  in  full,  but  they  show  a 
rather  surprising  amount  of  practical  qualities,  common- 
sense,  power  of  forcible  statement  expressed  in  a 
quaintly  clumsy  style,  and  also  a  certain  native  liveli- 
ness of  temper.  Besides  the  above  drawbacks  to  the 
even  flow  of  his  existence  may  be  mentioned  the  fact 


Leipzig  191 

that  the  instrumentalists  available  for  the  band  accom- 
paniments to  the  church  cantatas  and  for  the  perform- 
ance of  such  instrumental  music  as  was  required  for 
the  church  services  seem  to  have  been  but  indifferent 
performers. 

He  himself  drew  up  a  remarkable  memorial  for  the 
Leipzig  Town  Council  in  1730,  dealing  with  the  whole 
range  of  the  musicians  required  for  the  adequate  per- 
formance of  church  music;  in  which  he  deals  with  the 
band  at  his  disposal,  and  indicates  what  it  ought 
to  be.  He  defines  the  situation  characteristically  by 
saying: 

"  The  '  Numerus '  of  persons  appointed  for  the  church 
music  consists  of  eight;  as  four  town  pipers,  three  skilled 
violinists,  and  one  apprentice.  Discretion  deters  me  from 
revealing  anything  near  the  truth  as  to  their  quality  and 
musical  knowledge;  however,  it  is  a  matter  to  be  considered 
('  consider iren  ')  that  they  are  partly  past  their  work  and 
partly  not  in  such  '  exercitio  '  as  they  rightly  should  be." 

He  then  gives  the  names  of  the  performers  and  the 
instruments  upon  which  they  performed,  which  shows 
that  he  had  at  his  disposal  the  singular  collection  of 
two  trumpets,  two  violins,  two  hautboys,  and  a  bassoon, 
and  he  follows  up  the  list  by  remarking  that  "thus 
there  are  wanting  the  following  instruments  which  are 
necessary,  some  for  strengthening  the  tone  and  some  for 
playing  parts  which  cannot  be  left  out,  to  wit,  two  first 
violins,  two  second  violins,  two  who  can  play  viola,  two 
violoncellos,  one  double  bass,  and  two  flutes."  When 
the  standard  of  the  instrumental  accompaniments  which 
he  was  accustomed  to  write  for  his  church  compositions 
is  recalled,  it  may  be  seen  that  a  band  so  grotesquely 
inadequate  must  have  been  a  very  sore  trial  to   him. 


19^  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

In  the  same  memorandum  he  refers  to  the  manner  in 
which  he  had  endeavoured  to  supply  the  serious  de- 
ficiencies of  the  band  by  having  the  scholars  taught 
the  missing  instruments;  and  he  further  points  out  that 
such  a  procedure  seriously  impaired  the  adequacy  of 
his  choral  forces,  as  the  boys  who  were  taken  for  the 
instruments  were  also  badly  wanted  to  sing.  The 
choirs  required  for  the  respective  churches  were  none 
too  large  to  begin  with,  few  of  them  were  musically  ef- 
ficient, and  several  singers  were  frequently  absent  ill, 
"especially  at  this  time  of  year  (August),  as  can  be 
proved  by  the  recipes  written  by  the  *  Schul  Medico'  in 
the  Apotheke."  The  council  indeed  seem  to  have  had 
very  inadequate  ideas  of  what  was  required  for  the 
effective  performance  of  the  music  in  the  churches, 
and  grudged  the  expense  which  would  be  entailed  by 
putting  things  on  a  proper  footing. 

The  fact  that  the  above  report  was  written  some  years 
after  he  came  to  Leipzig  does  not  justify  the  inference 
that  the  state  of  affairs  had  been  better  in  the  inter- 
vening years.  The  disorganisation  of  the  musical 
forces  which  were  at  his  disposal  was  from  the  very  first 
most  disheartening,  and  it  is  not  surprising  that  he 
gave  more  of  his  time  and  energy  to  composition  than 
to  the  hopeless  and  uncongenial  task  of  endeavouring 
to  coerce  choir  boys  and  mere  units  of  a  street  band 
into  singing  and  playing  the  loftiest  and  most  exacting 
music.  Composition  was  the  higher  duty  of  the  cantor, 
and  no  cantor  endowed  that  office  with  a  greater 
radiance  of  glory  than  J.  S.  Bach.  But  the  average 
contemporary  official  mind  was  not  adapted  to  gauge 
the  higher  achievements,  and  only  felt  that  he  fulfilled 
his  lower  duties  inadequately.     Yet  the  impulse  within 


Leipzig  193 

him  to  develop  his  artistic  personality  by  the  constant 
exercise  of  his  powers  in  composition  was  not  checked 
in  the  least.  The  drawbacks  of  his  position  serve 
mainly  to  make  the  unabated  spirit  with  which  he 
maintained  his  life's  work  the  more  impressive. 

it  is  conspicuously  noticeable  that  from  the  very 
beginning  of  his  time  at  Leipzig  Bach  attacked  a 
comparatively  new  sphere  of  art  with  an  energy  and  a 
productivity  which  are  almost  incredible;  as  it  was  on 
his  taking  up  his  duties  there  that  the  profuse  out- 
pouring began  of  the  greater  portion  of  the  church 
cantatas,  which,  from  the  point  of  view  of  mere  quan- 
tity, form  much  the  largest  part  of  all  his  compositions. 
And  it  is  further  to  be  observed  that  the  cantatas  of 
the  Leipzig  period  represent,  in  the  main,  a  difTerent 
attitude  of  mind  from  that  which  is  evinced  in  the  ear- 
lier cantatas.  One  effect  produced  upon  him  by  his 
being  in  a  city  of  wider  importance  and  wider  connec- 
tion with  the  world  at  large  was  that  his  style  and 
method  became  in  a  sense  more  cosmopolitan,  and  lost 
for  a  time  something  of  their  unalloyed  Teutonic  quality 
and  the  subjectivity  of  the  essentially  personal  Bach. 
Such  an  outcome  is  obviously  quite  in  accordance 
with  what  would  happen  in  other  phases  of  human 
activity.  The  characteristic  race-qualities  naturally 
linger  strongest  and  longest  in  those  towns  and  lo- 
calities which  are  least  in  touch  with  the  outer  world. 
The  surroundings  of  his  earlier  posts  and  the  attitude 
of  mind  of  the  people  with  whom  he  had  lived  were  more 
absolutely  Teutonic  in  respect,  at  all  events,  of  church 
music.  But  Leipzig  was  not  only  a  place  which  at- 
tracted foreign  ideas.  It  had  long  had  opportunities 
to  develop  operatic  tastes.  It  had  had  an  opera  house 
13 


194  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

of  its  own  since  1693,  ^"^  apparently  the  wealthier  in- 
habitants availed  themselves  also  of  the  opportunity 
to  attend  the  opera  houses  at  Dresden  and  Weissenfels 
as  well,  and  the  taste  for  the  Italian  style  thereby  in- 
sinuated itself.  And  once  rooted  it  began  subtly  to 
creep  into  the  style  of  church  music,  as  it  had  done  in 
Roi^an  Catholic  places. 

Moreover  the  contamination,  for  such  it  was  in 
Teutonic  church  music,  was  assisted  by  G.  P.  Tele- 
mann,  who,  before  Bach  cam.e  to  Leipzig,  and  before  he 
himself  was  very  near  being  appointed  cantor,  had 
been  organist  and  director  of  the  music  in  the  New 
Church,  which  has  been  referred  to  above.  Telemann, 
a  facile  and  commonplace  composer,  totally  devoid  of 
the  fervour  of  religious  thought  which  was  the  charac- 
teristic of  the  out-and-out  Teutons,  was  quite  in 
sympathy  with  the  taste  which  gravitated  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Italian  style.  He  used  his  opportunities  at 
the  New  Church  to  introduce  that  style  into  the  church 
music,  with  notable  success  as  far  as  the  public  was  con- 
cerned. The  easy-going,  flimsy  music  attracted  the 
unthoughtful  crowd,  and  the  services  becamie  popular; 
just  as  in  modern  tim.es  services  have  become  popular  in 
which  vapid  and  sensuous  sentim.entalities  have  been 
performed.  The  demoralisation,  moreover,  spread  in  a 
manner  particularly  awkward  for  the  cantor  of  St. 
Thomas's,  for,  as  before  said,  that  school  had  to  supply 
the  choir  boys  for  the  New  Church,  and  though  only 
the  lower  division  of  the  scholars  sang  at  the  New 
Church,  the  boys  who  began  in  the  lower  ranks  of  the 
school  would  in  due  time  rise  to  the  upper,  and  then 
join  the  choir  of  St.  Thomas's.  So  the  likelihood  was 
that    by  the  time  they  were  artistically  fit  to  serve 


Leipzig  195 

under  the  cantor's  direction  they  had  become  thor- 
oughly imbued  with  the  taste  for  the  operatic  style. 
Its  gaiety  and  insouciance  naturally  appealed  to  young 
minds  much  more  than  the  severity  and  deep  feeling 
of  the  style  which  is  more  appropriate  to  devolional 
purposes  and  more  consonant  with  the  true  spirit  of 
the  Reformed  Church  in  Germany. 

This  style  was  evidently  labouring  under  very  seri- 
ous disabilities  at  the  time  when  Bach  came  to  Leipzig, 
and  it  is  probable  that  but  for  the  depth  and  per- 
sistence of  his  artistic  convictions  the  music  of  the 
Churches  of  St.  Thomas  and  of  St.  Nicholas  would  have 
become  Italianised  altogether.  But,  nevertheless,  it 
must  be  recognised  that  the  principles  of  Italian  art, 
in  its  broader  and  more  substantial  aspects,  influenced 
him  considerably;  and  in  the  first  few  years  at  Leipzig 
he  endeavoured  to  accommodate  his  church  cantatas 
to  the  prevailing  taste  in  Leipzig.  The  superficial 
aspects  of  style  and  diction  could  not  make  any  appeal 
to  a  disposition  so  spacious  and  inwardly  dignified.  He 
regarded  the  Italian  opera  as  a  sort  of  light  am.usement. 
His  view  of  it  is  summed  up  in  the  tradition  of  his  ask- 
ing Friedemann  if  they  should  go  over  to  the  Dresden 
opera  and  hear  the  pretty  little  tunes.  That  a  style 
with  such  associations  and,  indeed,  of  such  flimsy 
character,  could  be  employed  for  such  exalted  pur- 
poses as  the  services  of  the  church  appeared  to  him, 
as  must  be  seen  even  by  superficial  minds,  to  be 
impossible. 

Nevertheless,  John  Sebastian  was  not  above  learning 
from  anyone  whatever.  If  someone  else  in  a  light 
mood  which  was  uncongenial  to  himself  could  hit  upon 
an  artistic  device  or  process  which  he  saw  could  be 


196  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

adopted  with  advantage  in  his  more  serious  work,  the 
fact  of  the  attitude  of  mind  being  uncongenial  would 
not  hinder  him  from  profiting  by  whatever  was  good 
in  the  product.  Though  the  Italians  took  their  music 
much  more  easily  than  the  Teutons,  their  native  musical 
aptitude  enabled  them  to  be  pioneers  in  many  respects, 
and  whatever  the  actual  intrinsic  quality  of  their 
operatic  products,  the  principles  of  form  and  organisa- 
tion, the  modelling  of  melodic  phrases,  even  the  man- 
ipulation of  tone  quality  of  various  instruments  and  the 
development  of  instrumental  style  were,  in  their  earlier 
stages,  almost  entirely  in  their  hands.  The  more  serious 
attitude  of  Northern  nations  towards  art  caused  them 
to  be  more  particularly  concerned  with  actual  ideas, 
thoughts,  and  with  the  expression  of  the  deepest  emo- 
tions. For  the  general  foundation  and  methods  of  the 
art  itself  the  Northern  races  had  to  learn  from  the  Ital- 
ians. The  essential  problem  for  the  Teutonic  composer 
was  to  segregate  the  adaptable  from  the  unadaptable; 
to  adopt  that  which  was  of  universal  application  and 
to  eliminate  what  v/as  purely  Italian  and  local.  The 
phraseology  is  always  purely  local.  But  the  frequent 
temptation  of  a  composer  studying  the  works  of  a  com- 
poser of  another  nation  is  to  imitate  and  even  repro- 
duce the  phraseology,  together  with  such  features  as 
are  common  to  the  music  of  all  people  and  nations 
whatever,  and  to  drop  those  very  things  which  are 
the  indispensable  guarantees  of  his  sincerity,  inasmuch 
as  they  are  the  tokens  of  the  race  to  which  he 
belongs. 

German  composers  had  been  learning  from  the  Ital-. 
ians  for  upwards  of  a  hundred  years,  and  in  many  cases 
they  had  failed  to  discriminate  between  the  things  of 


Leipzig  197 

universal  and  the  things  of  local  application.  They 
had  adopted,  for  instance,  the  purely  conventional 
ornamental  flourishes  in  the  solo  portions  of  their  church 
music,  and  they  had  not  only  adopted  them  but  imi- 
tated their  style  and  contours  and  even  the  verbiage 
of  their  details.  The  ideal  function  of  ornament  as  an 
enhancement  of  expression  quite  escaped  them,  in  ob- 
serving that  the  purely  barren  use  of  ornament  grati- 
fied superficial  hearers.  The  same  was  the  case  with 
the  texture  of  accompaniments  and  other  secondary 
phases  of  art-work.  The  Italians  being  easily  satisfied 
with  broad  general  effect,  and  having  but  little  dispo- 
sition for  dwelling  lovingly  on  lesser  details,  accepted 
without  any  distrust  the  hundreds  of  formulas  which 
served  to  give  animation  to  the  general  aspect,  which 
were  common  property. 

There  is  probably  no  province  in  art  which  so  strongly 
indicates  the  difference  between  Latin  and  Teuton  as 
the  attitude  towards  detail.  The  difference  is  per- 
ceptible in  painting  as  in  music.  Even  in  degenerate 
forms  the  essential  difference  of  mental  and  tempera- 
mental qualities  is  perceptible.  For  in  degenera- 
tion the  Teuton  falls  into  the  crowding  of  badly 
flavoured  details,  just  for  the  sake  of  suggesting  pro- 
fusion of  industry,  and  the  Italian  in  degeneration 
falls  into  the  complacency  of  conventional  formalism 
and  coarse  and  blustering  vapidity. 

The  greater  minds  instinctively  reject  the  superfluous 
and  the  ephemeral,  and  take  counsel  of  the  permanent 
and  the  universal;  and  in  this  sense  Bach  always  assim- 
ilated the  features  and  methods  from  types  of  national 
art  which  were  of  value.  Just  as  he  adopted  the 
form  of   the  French   overture,  and  dealt  with  it  so 


198  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

that  the  musical  aspect  of  the  work  had  a  purely 
Teutonic  ring,  so  he  adopted  from  the  Italians 
types  of  form  and  even  some  of  the  melodic  types 
of  contour  without  dropping  into  the  weakness  of 
imitating  the  phraseology.  The  difference  between  his 
works  which  were  of  the  pure  Teutonic  mould  and 
those  in  which  he  followed  Italian  models  is  that,  in  the 
former,  the  movements  are  not  so  clearly  or  decisively 
outlined,  but  follow  the  suggestions  of  the  sentiment 
with  more  irregular  disposition  of  the  organic  elements, 
aiming  at  what  may  be  called  psychological  rather  than 
mechanical  form;  in  the  works  on  the  latter  lines  he 
throws  his  movements  into  very  clearly  marked  divi- 
sions, and  uses  a  less  complex  manner  of  building  up 
the  superincumbent  lines  of  free  counterpoint  which 
represent  the  harmonic  superstructure. 

The  feature  which  becomes  most  prominent  in  these 
cases  is  the  type  of  form  known  as  the  aria,  which  had 
become  over-familiar  through  the  mechanical  manner 
in  which  the  Italian  operatic  composers  had  used  it. 
Bach  adopted  it  whole-heartedly,  and  managed  in  most 
cases  to  give  it  new  significance  and  interest  of  variety; 
though  it  must  be  admitted  that  he  not  infrequently 
seems  to  use  its  conventions  as  a  matter  of  course,  and 
sometimes  to  adopt  the  da  capo  without  due  considera- 
tion, when  the  copiousness  of  his  resources  in  extend- 
ing the  development  of  the  separate  sections  causes 
movements  to  run  to  an  alm^ost  impracticable  length. 
It  must  be  observed  also  that  he  applied  the  scheme 
of  the  aria  now  and  again  in  choruses  and  even  in  instru- 
mental movements;  and  also,  often  without  actually 
adopting  aria  form,  laid  out  his  simpler  choruses  in 
defmite  and  clearly  indicated  sections,  which  suggest 


Leipzig  199 

harmonic  bases  in  a  manner  more  natural  to  Italians 
than  to  Teutons. 

From  this  point  of  view  it  is  interesting  to  compare 
the  cantata  Dii  wahrerGott,  which  must  have  been  writ- 
ten before  he  moved  to  Leipzig,  and  which  he  is  said  to 
have  rejected  on  the  occasion  of  his  performing  what  is 
called  his  trial  piece  on  February/,  1723,  with  the  can- 
tata Jesus  nahm  pi  sich  die  Zwolfe,  which  was  actually 
performed  on  that  occasion.  The  former  occupies 
a  peculiar  position,  as  though  of  the  Weimar  type 
the  period  of  its  composition  was  probably  separated 
from  the  Weimar  time  by  the  years  at  Cothen  mainly 
devoted  to  secular  instrumental  compositions.  It 
has  four  numbers  only.  The  first  is  a  duet  for  soprano 
and  alto  accompanied  by  two  hautboys  and  ''continuo,'' 
overwhelmingly  rich  in  expressive  texture,  and  giving 
to  the  voice  parts  phrases  which  are  essentially  Teu- 
tonic in  their  tenderness  and  devotional  expression. 
The  movement  is,  indeed,  very  clearly  designed,  but  the 
manipulation  of  the  scheme  is  so  deeply  and  individu- 
ally thought  out  that  it  produces  little  of  the  impression 
of  the  Italian  aria  form.  The  stress  that  is  laid  on  ex- 
pressive detail  distracts  the  mind  from  caring  about 
the  form.  In  the  recitative  which  follows,  the  voice 
part  expresses  deep  feeling  in  the  manner  of  which 
Bach  was  supreme  master;  and  a  feature  which  is 
highly  characteristic  of  the  Teuton  is  the  use  of  the 
short  chorale  Christe,  du  Lamm  Goites  quite  simply 
as  the  upper  part  of  the  harmonies  which  accompany  the 
voice.  It  is  done  so  naturally  that  it  might  be  easily 
overlooked,  but  when  observed  it  suggests  an  under- 
lying thought  which  adds  colour  to  the  words:  "  Ach, 
gehe  nicht   voruher,  du,  oiler  Menschen  Heil,  Bist  ja 


200  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

erschiencn  die  Kranhen  tind  mcht  die  Gesunden  {u 
hedienen."  The  device  is  Teutonic  in  that  it  makes 
use  of  a  symbolic  feature  to  widen  and  deepen  the 
expression  of  the  idea.  The  third  number  is  a  singularly 
melodious  and  flowing  chorus,  resembling  in  mood  the 
beautiful  chorus  at  the  end  of  the  "Matthaus-Passion," 
and  the  last  number  is  founded  on  the  same  chorale, 
Chrisfe,  dii  Lamm  Goiies,  which  had  been  used  in 
the  recitative.  The  chorale  being,  as  before  remarked, 
extremely  short,  is  given  three  times:  the  first 
time  with  deeply  expressive  figures  of  accompani- 
ment distributed  between  the  tw^o  hautboys  and  the 
strings;  the  second  time  with  different  treatment  of 
detail,  including  a  canon  in  which  oboes  and  violins  an- 
swer the  treble  voices  with  the  phrases  of  the  chorale 
at  the  fourth  below  and  third  above;  and  the  third 
time  with  yet  further  figures  of  accompanim.ent  and 
new  harmonisation  of  a  very  noble  character,  and  the 
movement  concludes  with  a  richly  polyphonic  "Amen.'' 
As  a  subordinate  feature  it  may  be  m^entioned  that  the 
voice  parts  in  the  chorale  are  doubled  throughout  by 
trombones  and  cornetti.  The  whole  cantata  is  excep- 
tionally rich  in  feeling  and  interest,  one  of  the  most 
individual  and  expressive  of  all  Bach's  works  of  the 
kind,  essentially  and  deeply  devotional  in  the  finest 
sense,  and  Teutonic  and  Protestant  in  the  prominence 
of  the  chorale. 

The  cantata,  Jesus  nahn  pi  sich  die  Zwolje,  which 
he  adopted  in  preference  as  his  trial  piece,  is  in  five 
numbers.  The  scheme  of  the  first  movement,  part  of 
which  at  least  is  a  chorus,  is  rather  puzzling.  After 
the  short  introductory  passage,  for  one  hautboy  and 
strings,  the  tenor  part  makes   the  short  declaration. 


Leipzig  20I 

which  is  the  title  of  the  cantata  in  ornate  quasi-recita- 
tive,  and  the  bass  voice  takes  up  the  words  of  Christ, 
Sehet,  wir  gehen  hinauj  gen  Jerusalem,  in  highly 
ornate  style.  There  are  no  indications  that  it  is  for  a 
solo  voice,  but  it  is  obviously  quite  unfitted  for  a  chorus 
to  sing;  and  it  is  quite  likely  that  Bach,  as  in  many 
other  obvious  cases,  either  forgetting  or  ignoring 
in  haste  the  fact  that  clear  directions  for  the  per- 
formance of  his  music  would  concern  posterity  as  well 
as  himself,  omitted  to  write  in  the  word  which  would 
have  justified  the  personal  character  of  the  utterances. 
The  solo  itself  is  full  of  the  feeling  of  foreboding  in- 
duced by  the  thought  of  the  last  journey  to  Jerusalem, 
which  is  characteristically  expressed  by  a  figure  in 
the  accompaniment  suggestive  of  wailing; — 


Both  parts  are  written  on  the  chorus  lines,  but  the 
sopranos  and  altos  have  nothing  to  do  till  the  second 
division  of  the  movement  is  reached,  and  then  the 
style  is  completely  changed,  and,  abandoning  the  rich 
characteristic  treatment  of  the  earlier  portion  of  the 
movement,  the  composer  adopts  a  style  of  the  most 
simple  character,  and  so  totally  devoid  of  indepen- 
dent instrumental  interest  that  it  might  perfectly 
be  sung  "a  cappella." 

The  impression  the  movement  conveys,  as  a  whole, 
is  that  Bach  began  it  in  one  style,  and  that  half  way 
through  he  changed  his  mind  and  thought  a  sim.pler 
method  more  appropriate.  But  perhaps  on  account 
of  the  higher  musical  qualities  of  the  first  portion,  and 


202  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

also  perhaps  for  lack  of  time,  he  allowed  the  first  por- 
tion to  stand.  The  second  movement  is  an  aria 
constructed  on  the  principles  of  the  Italian  form, 
with  sundry  apt  modifications  which  tend  at  once 
to  enforce  the  expression  and  infuse  additional  in- 
terest. The  third  is  an  accompanied  recitative,  of 
no  great  importance,  but  containing  elaborate  and 
rather  conventional  runs;  the  fourth  is  yet  another 
aria  for  tenor  with  a  characteristically  lively  tune, 
and  the  last  movement  is  a  chorale,  Ertodf  uns  durch 
dcin  Giiie,  the  harmonisation  of  which  is  in  Bach's 
own  unsurpassable  manner.  But  unfortunately  the 
voices  are  not  left  to  produce  their  effect  by  them- 
selves, but  are  accompanied  by  a  flowing  accom- 
paniment of  semiquavers  which  persists  in  a  single 
part  from  beginning  to  end.  The  effect  of  a  figure 
of  the  kind  persisting  without  break  or  variety  is  often 
liable  to  become  tedious,  and  in  this  case  the  situ- 
ation is  accentuated  by  the  perpetual  motion  being 
maintained  by  the  hautboy,  whose  poignant  tones 
when  long  reiterated  produce  an  efTect  of  weariness, 
which  in  extreme  cases  amounts  to  physical  distress. 
It  is  as  though  Bach  had  set  himself  to  carry  out  a 
technical  device,  and  the  perfect  mastery  with  which 
he  consummated  his  object  had  afforded  him  the  sense 
of  justification  to  set  his  sign  manual  to  it. 

Full  consideration  of  the  two  works  suggests  that 
when  he  realised,  on  coming  to  close  quarters  on  the 
field  of  action,  that  the  cantata  Du  wahrer  Gott  und 
Davids  Sohn  was  unsuitable  to  be  presented  as  his 
trial  piece,  he  was  driven  to  prepare  another  which 
would  be  better  fitted  for  the  occasion,  but  that 
his  mind  did  not  adapt  itself  at  once  to  the  more 


Leipzig  203 

mechanical  requirements  of  such  a  situation,  and  time 
did  not  serve  to  coerce  it.  The  choice  of  a  particular 
work  in  preference  to  another,  especially  when  the 
work  chosen  was  intrinsically  inferior,  emphasises 
his  consciousness  that  a  different  type  of  art  from  that 
which  he  had  hitherto  adopted  was  needed  for  the  new 
conditions.  The  two  works  throw  light  on  two  im- 
portant phases  in  Bach's  development.  The  earlier 
was  spiritual  in  the  deepest  sense,  and  the  second  as 
far  mundane  as  the  occasion  (which  was  not  a  cheer- 
ful one,  being  the  Sunday  immediately  before  Lent) 
would  allow,  and  the  ineffably  spiritual  John  Sebastian 
could  bring  himself  to  be. 

All  highly  organised  musicians  are  deeply  sensible  of 
the  temperamental  affmities  of  their  human  environ- 
ment; the  difference  between  the  higher  and  the  lower 
types  lying  in  the  particular  strata  of  that  human 
environment  which  affect  them.  Like  draws  like. 
The  lower  order  of  artists  of  whatever  kind  seek 
the  sympathetic  response  of  human  creatures  of  like 
standard  with  themselves,  and  the  downward  tenden- 
cies are  enhanced  by  fellow  feeling.  The  higher  order 
of  artistic  minds,  on  the  contrary,  never  cease  the 
aspiration  to  rise,  and  ffnd  their  cravings  satisfied 
only  in  the  sympathy  of  beings  on  a  plane  as  high  as 
their  own;  and  that  sympathy  when  it  can  be  found 
beckons  to  ever  higher  flights  and  more  perfect 
achievement.  But  there  are  a  few  rare  individuals 
who  cannot  fmd  the  equal  standard  of  insight,  because, 
indeed,  it  does  not  exist  in  their  own  branch  of  mental 
activity.  But  it  does  not  follow  that  they  are  conscious 
of  the  reason  of  their  own  isolation;  for  there  is  a 
great  difference  between  being  aware  of  a  thing  and 


204  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

being  conscious  of  it.  Such  very  rare  beings  only 
become  aware  that  there  is  some  cause  which  prevents 
the  people  with  whom  they  are  in  contact  from 
understanding  and  being  in  touch  with  the  standard 
of  their  work,  and  it  sometimes  begets  rage,  and  some- 
times the  disposition  to  ponder.  In  the  latter  case  the 
temperamental  question  is  whether  it  is  worth  while 
addressing  deaf  ears,  either  out  of  sheer  individual 
pertinacity  or  in  the  hope  that  they  may  somehow 
come  to  hear  in  time;  or  whether  it  is  possible  so  far 
to  change  the  venue  without  besmirching  that  sacred 
thing,  the  artistic  conscience,  and  approach  the  lower 
stratum  of  humanity  in  the  terms  that  they  are  able 
to  understand. 

It  is  not  necessarily  lowering  to  a  great  poet  to 
address  an  uncultured  crowd  of  ignorant  yokels  in 
simple  and  direct  terms,  though  his  true  mission  may 
be  to  present  the  subtlest  problems  of  human  experi- 
ence in  terms  which  would  be  intelligible  only  to  the 
cultured  and  the  highly  trained  few.  The  deliberate 
choice  of  a  low  type  of  audience  would  certainly 
militate  against  the  maintenance  of  the  high  standard 
of  expression  which  is  necessary  for  the  utterance  of 
higher  thought,  and,  as  is  comm^only  observed  with 
artists,  poets,  musicians,  it  before  long  atrophies  the 
higher  gifts.  Still,  if  the  situation  be  given  and  if  it  is 
necessary  for  the  higher  type  of  man  to  address 
himself  to  those  masses  who  could  not  in  these 
circumstances  follow  his  higher  flights  of  suggestive 
discourse,  practical  common-sense  and  instinct  alike 
approve  such  approximation  to  the  standard  of  insight 
as  the  situation  and  the  nature  of  the  man  allow. 

It  can  hardly  be  denied  that  the  average  quality 


Leipzig  205 

and  style  of  Bach's  cantatas  after  he  went  to  Leipzig 
became  different  from  his  earlier  style;  and  it  must  be 
admitted  that  in  many  cases  they  became  less  interest- 
ing.    It  might  be  argued  that  Ich  hatte  viel  Bekum- 
merniss,  Gottes  Zeit,  Du  wahrerGoit,  were  the  production 
of  more  spontaneous  youthful  fervour,  and   the  later 
works  the  production  of  the  mature  artistic  mind,  and 
in  some  ways  better  balanced  and  more  practically 
designed.     It  might,  on   the  other  hand,   be  argued 
that  the  necessity  of  writing  new  cantatas  incessantly 
to  meet  the  demands  of  the  Sundays  and  the  festivals 
rendered  his  work  more  mechanical,  and  made  spon- 
taneous poetic  feeling  less  constantly  available.     In 
truth,   both   causes   were   no   doubt    operative,    but 
it  is  well  to  try  to  see  (mainly  as  a   study  of   the 
personal    disposition    of    the    great    John    Sebastian) 
if  the  influences  of  the  new  environment  had  not  a 
great  deal  to  do  with   the  change.    And   it  is  well 
also  to  keep  in  mind  the  fact  that,  even  if  in  these 
church  cantatas  he  adapted  himself  to  the  attitude  of 
mind  of  the  audience  which  he  was  bound  to  address, 
he  in  nowise  abrogated  his  mystical  Teutonic  romanti- 
cism, and  was  yet  destined  to  rise  far  higher  than  he 
had  ever  done  into  the  regions  of  the  very  ecstasy 
of   spiritual  devotion  in  the  "Matthaus-Passion,"  the 
B  minor  Mass,  and  some  of  the  latest  cantatas  and 
works  for  the  organ.     The  cosmopolitan  influence  is 
mainly     to    be    looked    for    in    his    cantatas     and 
church  works   which  were  written  in  such  profusion 
for   the  services    of    the    church    at    Leipzig   before 
1729. 

The  first  works  which,  as  far  as  can  be  ascertained, 
he  presented  before  the  congregation  at  Leipzig  after 


2o6  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

he  actually  came  into  the  active  exercise  of  his  duties 
as  Cantor,  tend  to  confirm  the  impression  conveyed  by 
his  choice  of  his  trial  piece.  Unfortunately  the  extra- 
ordinary uncertainty  with  which  he  wrote  in  all  acces- 
sory directions  and  records,  such  as  tempo  marks, 
marks  of  expression,  indications  for  manner  or  means 
of  performance,  and  all  such  mechanical  details  as 
were  superfluous  as  long  as  he  was  superintending 
the  performance  of  the  music  himself,  extended  lam- 
entably to  the  omission  of  details  of  the  dates  when 
any  of  his  works  were  written.  The  date  of  his 
first  appearance  as  Cantor-composer  is  supplied 
by  the  "Acta  Lipsensium  Academica"  of  1723, 
which  states  that  "The  New  Cantor  and  Collegii 
Musici  Director,  Herr  Johann  Sebastian  Bach,  who 
came  from  the  Ducal  Court  of  Cothen,  performed 
his  first  music  here  with  great  applause  on  the 
30th  of  May  on  the  first  Sunday  after  Trinity."  A 
later  entry  in  the  same  records  indicates  that 
the  performance  took  place  in  the  Church  of  St. 
Nicholas. 

It  happens  that  there  is  no  work  which  has  that 
actual  date,  but  there  is  a  very  imposing  cantata. 
Die  Himmel  er^dhlen  die  Ehre  Goites,  which  is  dated  as 
for  the  second  Sunday  after  Trinity  of  that  very 
year,  1723;  and  there  is  also  a  cantata.  Die  Elenden 
sollen  essen,  which  is  marked  for  the  first  Sunday 
after  Trinity,  but  without  date.  Conspicuous  co- 
incidences indicate  that  the  date  was  1723,  and 
that  the  latter  cantata  was  therefore  the  first  of  his 
works  which  was  performed  after  he  settled  down  to 
his  duties.  The  undated  cantata  is  not  only  on  pre- 
cisely the  same  scale  as  the  dated  cantata,  and  very 


Leipzig  207 

similar  in  style,  but  the  scheme  is  the  same  and  the 
constituent  numbers  are  almost  identical  in  character 
and  order;  and,  lastly,  the  trumpet  has  a  part  in  each 
of  such  exceptional  and  prominent  brilliance  as  is 
scarcely  to  be  found  in  any  other  works  by  the  com- 
poser. Both  cantatas  are  divided  into  two  portions, 
commencing  with  introductory  choruses  on  a  grand 
scale,  of  similar  design;  proceeding  with  alternate 
recitatives  and  arias;  concluding  the  first  half  with  a 
chorale;  recommencing  the  several  parts  with  an 
instrumental  sinfonia  (which  in  the  dated  cantata  is 
marked  to  begin  "nach  der  Predigt")^  and,  after 
further  alternate  arias  and  recitatives,  concluding  the 
whole  with  a  repetition  of  the  chorale  which  came  at 
the  end  of  the  first  part  with  different  words.  The 
instruments  employed  in  the  orchestra  are  also  almost 
identical.  Together  with  the  strings  there  are  parts 
for  two  hautboys.  The  oboe  d'amore  is  employed 
in  both  —  in  the  undated  cantata  in  the  aria  "  Ich 
nehme  mein  Leiden  mil  Freuden,"  in  the  dated  can- 
tata, in  the  sinfonia  at  the  beginning  of  the  second 
portion  of  the  work,  and  in  the  aria  Liebt,  thr  Christen, 
in  der  That  The  trumpet,  as  before  mentioned,  has 
parts  of  exceptional  prominence  in  both  works.  In 
the  undated  cantata  it  is  used  in  the  sinfonia  at  the 
beginning  of  the  second  portion  of  the  work,  and  in 
the  aria  MeinHer(e  glaubt,  in  which,  indeed,  it  has  one 
of  the  most  elaborate  and  brilliant  parts  to  be  found 
in  any  movement  in  the  whole  range  of  music,  and 
more  to  do  than  the  voice  itself.  In  the  dated  cantata 
it  has  a  brilliant  and  conspicuous  part  in  the  first 
chorus,  in  the  aria  Fahr'  hin,  and  in  the  chorale 
which  concludes  both  parts  of  the  work.     The  instru- 


2o8  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

merits  which  are  not  common  to  both  cantatas  are 
the  bassoon  in  the  undated  cantata,  which  has  a 
subordinate  part  to  play,  and  the  viol  da  gamba  in 
the  dated  cantata,  which,  both  in  the  sinfonia  of 
the  second  portion  and  the  aria  Liebt  ihr  Christen, 
has  an  important  part  in  a  duet  with  the  oboe 
d'amore. 

These  many  points  of  similarity  in  the  two  works 
make  it  extremely  probable  that  they  were  written 
at  the  same  time.  It  is  common  for  all  composers  of 
any  vigour  of  mind  to  work  out  methods,  schemes  of  or- 
ganisation, even  types  of  melody,  which  have  occurred 
to  them  as  propitious,  in  different  works  which  belong 
to  one  particular  period  of  their  lives;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  is  very  unlikely  that  if  Bach  had  written 
Die  Himmel  er^dhlen,  in  1723  he  would  have  written 
another  cantata  so  similar  in  plan,  type,  and  orchestra- 
tion in  another  year.  In  any  case  there  cannot  be  the 
least  doubt,  as  the  one  cantata  is  dated,  and  the  un- 
dated one  is  so  like  it  in  many  respects,  that  the 
features  they  contain  represent  the  standard  cf  style 
and  form  which  he  thought  suitable  to  the  people  of 
Leipzig;  and  it  remains  to  take  note  of  those  qualities 
which  are  significant. 

The  first  chorus  in  Die  Elenden  sollen  cssen  begins 
in  expressive  style,  evidently  meant  to  be  slow,  though 
without  tempo  mark.  There  is  an  Italian  flavour 
about  the  introduction,  especially  at  the  close,  from 
which  the  chorus  takes  its  beginning.  The  movement 
is  practically  in  two  portions:  in  the  first  the  voices 
are  mainly  used  in  masses;  and  the  second  consists  of  a 
long  and  brilliant  fugal  portion,  liberally  furnished 
with  semiquaver  runs  of  truly  portentous  length  and 


Leipzig  209 

expressing  vigorous  jubilation.  The  polyphonic  writ- 
ing is,  of  course,  superb,  but,  especially  in  the  latter 
part,  it  bids  for  effect  on  the  score  of  this  brilliancy 
rather  than  of  expression.  The  first  movement  of 
Die  Himmel  er^dhlen  is  all  brilliantly  jubilant,  and 
its  brilliancy  is  enhanced  by  the  trumpet  part.  A 
tuneful  passage  is  enunciated  by  bass  solo  and  taken 
up  by  the  chorus,  and  then  as  in  the  other  case  the 
movement  Comes  to  a  decisive  point  in  the  middle,  and 
solo  voices  take  up  a  brilliant  fugue,  which  after  the 
complete  exposition  is  joined  by  the  chorus.  It  is 
splendidly  rhythmic  and  vivacious  polyphony  of  the 
most  elaborate  kind,  such  as  Bach  alone  could  pro- 
duce; but  it  is  also  direct  and  straightforward,  and 
makes  its  effect  by  the  richness  of  combined  passages, 
rather  than  by  any  actual  interest  in  the  thematic 
material.  In  both  cases  these  movements  are  the 
most  important,  by  reason  of  their  grand  scale,  of 
any  in  the  two  works. 

In  both  cantatas  there  are  four  arias.  The  first  in  Die 
Elenden  sollen  essen  is  on  a  very  extensive  scale  with 
a  complete  da  capo  on  the  Italian  principle;  but 
the  material  is  very  melodious,  and  it  is  singularly 
simple  in  the  treatment  of  the  accompaniment.  Among 
Bach's  tenor  solos  it  is  quite  exceptionally  singable! 
The  second,  accompanied  by  the  oboe  d'amore,  is 
plaintive  and  tuneful,  and  also  has  a  complete  da 
capo.  There  is  a  short  and  simple  aria  of  charming 
quality  in  the  second  half,  for  alto  with  violin  accom- 
paniment, and  the  brilliant  air  with  trumpet  obligato 
before  alluded  to.  In  the  other  cantata  the  first  aria 
is  a  remarkable  example  of  close  consistency  of  materal : 
as   the  figure   to   which  the  words  Hort,  ihr  Volker 


2IO  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

are  wedded  in  the  voice  part  forms  the  main  staple 
of  the  accompaniment  throughout 


The  Soprano  Solo. 


i'^^5=f=i^ 


«-K 


:^=?- 


-0-0- 


Hort,  ihr   V6lk-er,          Got  -  tes     Stim-me. 


m 


Tlie  Instrumental  Opening. 
VioLiNO  Solo. 

i— — - 


:^-± 


-A: 


-^-0- 


Se^: 


A 


:Sl: 


-0-0- 


Jtl^ 


S    i^ 


CONTISUO. 


r^ 


etc. 


thus  strengthening  the  essential  meaning  of  the  exhort- 
ation. The  movement  has  yet  again  a  complete  da  capo. 
In  this  case  it  is  the  second  aria  Vv^hich  is  on  the  largest 
scale,  being  also  made  prominent,  as  before  mentioned, 
by  its  brilHant  trumpet  part.  Neither  of  the  arias  in 
the  second  part  is  of  great  importance,  whether  as 
regards  material  or  development;  though  the  effect 
produced  by  the  duet  of  the  oboe  d'amore  and  the 
viol  da  gamba  is  decidedly  picturesque  and  interesting. 
In  both  cantatas  there  are  several  recitatives  which 
are  for  the  main  part  in  Bach's  unique  manner.  They 
are  not  of  equal  interest,  but  the  elocutionary  sense, 
which  with  him  ministered  in  the  highest  degree  to  the 
expression  of  the  sentiment,  is  in  many  cases  supremely 
displayed.  In  the  second  cantata  recitative  is  twice 
combined  with  arioso,  the  form  which  is  on  the  border- 
land between  recitative  and  regular  melodic  aria, 
and    in    Bach's   usage   always   supremely   expressive. 


Leipzig  2 1 1 

In  both  cantatas  the  chorale  which  concludes  both 
portions  is  fully  accompanied  with  free  parts  for 
instruments.  In  the  first  cantata  the  sinfonia  of  the 
second  half  is  made  significant  by  the  use  of  the  same 
chorale  tune,  Pf^as  Goit  ihitt,  das  ist  wohlgethan, 
which  had  concluded  the  portion  before  the  sermon. i 
This  is  given  to  the  trumpet,  with  elaborate  fugal 
accompaniment  of  the  violins,  thus  at  once  happily 
establishing  the  connection  of  the  part  after  the  ser- 
mon with  the  part  before  it.  In  the  second  cantata 
the  trumpet  anticipates  the  chorale  by  playing  a 
certain  portion  of  it  each  time  before  the  voices  enter 
and  then  joining  with  them  while  they  sing  it.  The 
sinfonia  of  the  second  portion  of  the  second  cantata 
is  a  very  quiet  but  elaborate  trio  for  oboe  d'amore, 
viol  da  gamba,  and  continuo,  containing  a  short  adagio 
and  vivace,  and  consisting  of  a  continuous  interlacing 
of  characteristic  figures  after  Bach's  familiar  manner 
in  such  a  style. 

The  predominant  impression  of  the  two  cantatas 
is  that  of  immense  technical  mastery,  brilliancy,  direct- 
ness, and  power.  The  number  of  arias  indicates  the 
tendency  towards  decisive  and  clearly  marked  princi- 
ples of  design,  and  even  the  choruses  show  the  samie 
quality  by  reason  of  their  division  into  two  distinct 
portions.  In  such  characteristics  the  influence  of  the 
new  Leipzig  environment  seems  to  be  expressed.  The 
definiteness  of  the  form,  the  brilliancy  and  directness 
of  the  manner,  bespeak  Bach's  consciousness  of  new 
conditions.     It  need  not  be  inferred  that  he  abandoned 

1  This  elaborately  accompanied  chorale  was  transferred 
later  with  various  interesting  amendments  to  the  third 
cantata  beginning  with  the  words  Was  Gott  thut. 


212  Johanii  Sebastian  Bach 

his  mystic  de\otionalism,  or  his  gift  of  characteristic 
melody  and  harmonic  progression,  but  he  accommo- 
dated them  in  a  manner  which  would  make  them  more 
readily  intelligible  to  the  new  kind  of  audience. 

A  cantata,  Ein  ungejdrU  Gemilihe,  which  Bach 
appears  to  have  produced  a  fortnight  after  the  last 
of  the  preceding  cantatas— that  is,  on  the  fourth  Sun- 
day after  Trinity,— is  of  smaller  scope  and  not  very 
striking.  The  words,  as  Spitta  points  out,  are  not 
suggestive,  and  the  movements,  though  masterly  in 
detail,  are  not  particularly  sympathetic  or  character- 
istic in  thematic  material.  It  begins  with  an  alto 
Aria,  and  there  is  a  fairly  extensive  chorus  in  the  mid- 
dle in  two  distinct  portions,  the  latter  half  of  which 
is  introduced  by  solo  voices,  and  the  chorale  move- 
ment at  the  end  is  finely  planned,  with  alternations  of 
the  vocal  utterance  of  each  phrase  of  the  chorale  with 
elaborate  instrumental  episodes.  There  are  fme  pass- 
ages of  recitative  and  arioso,  and  the  trumpet  is 
again  made  use  of,  as  well  as  two  oboi  d'amore.  The 
general  features  are  manifestly  similar  to  those  of  the 
previous  cantatas. 

Yet  again,  three  weeks  later,  he  produced  the 
very  extensive  cantata  in  two  parts  Aergre  dich,  o 
Seek,  nicht  which  is  more  interesting  and  expressive, 
especially  the  first  chorus,  the  words  of  which  evidently 
appealed  to  him  strongly.  He  uses  the  voices  on  an 
elocutionary  principle  similar  to  his  methods  in  re- 
citative, obtaining  admirable  expression  of  the  senti- 
ment in  the  manipulation  of  the  independent  parts. 
There  are  no  less  than  three  remarkable  examples  of 
arioso  endings  to  recitatives  in  this  cantata;  which 
shows  the  persistence  of  Bach's  personal  gravitation. 


Leipzig  213 

This  is  borne  out  also  by  the  Chorale  which  concludes 
the  first  part,  as  it  has  elaborate  instrumental  episodes 
between  the  Choral  phrases,  as  well  as  imitative 
treatment  in  the  voice  parts. 

A  similar  attitude  of  mind  is  indicated  by  the  Can- 
tata Ihr  die  ihr  euch  von  Chrisio  nennet,  which  was 
probably  written  for  the  thirteenth  Sunday  after 
Trinity  in  this  year.  The  words  are  by  Franck  and 
are  set  for  Solo  voices,  with  no  choral  movement  except 
the  Chorale  at  the  end.  The  most  beautiful  solo  is 
the  first  for  Tenor,  which  is  in  a  more  elastic  form  than 
the  usual  systematic  Aria,  and  seems  to  be  suffused 
throughout  by  the  tender  appealing  phrase  allotted 
to  the  first  words.  A  solo  for  Alto  accompanied  by 
two  flutes  is  also  very  expressive.  The  final  duet 
for  Soprano  and  Bass  is  in  simpler  style,  and  is  founded 
on  a  phrase  which  has  close  affinity  to  the  leading 
phrase  of  the  Tenor  solo. 

The  Cantata  Preise,  Jerusalem,  den  Herrn  was  prob- 
ably written  in  1723  for  a  "Rathswahl"  festival,  the 
day  when  a  newly  elected  town  council  took  up  their 
official  responsibilities, — a  day  which  the  municipalities 
of  Europe  in  most  countries  used  to  celebrate  with  great 
pomp.  Bach  had  already  had  experience  of  the  kind 
of  function,  as  one  of  his  very  first  works  on  a  grand 
scale  for  voices  and  orchestra  had  been  the  "Raths- 
wechsel  Cantata,"  Gott  ist  mein  Konig,  which  had  been 
written  in  1708  for  the  festival  of  the  change  of  town 
councillorsof  Miilhausen.  (See  p.  52.)  The  occasion  was 
one  which  admitted  of  but  one  simple  direct  kind  of 
treatment.  And  the  admirable  device  of  employing 
the  form  of  the  French  opera-overture  for  the  first 
movement  was  adopted  again  by  the  composer  as  it 


214  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

had  been  before  in  Nun  komm,  der  Heiden  Heiland. 
The  grandiose  manner  of  the  slow  opening  passage  is 
most  eminently  suitable  for  a  big  municipal  function, 
and  Bach's  use  of  it  on  this  occasion  shows  in  a  marked 
degree  his  power  of  adaptation.  The  slow  passage 
moves  with  a  singularly  stately  stride,  with  passages 
for  four  trumpets  and  drums  interspersed  with  the 
long-drawn  succession  of  ornamented  suspensions 
allotted  to  the  rest  of  the  orchestra.  The  spirit  of 
Lulli,  who  presided  so  often  at  the  magnificent  courtly 
functions  of  Louis  XIV.,  seems  to  be  not  far  away. 
But  he  takes  his  departure  when  the  vocal  portion 
begins,  as  his  gift  for  making  up  a  little  imitation 
fugue  with  a  snap  subject  is  as  far  removed  from 
Bach's  supreme  mastery  of  that  form  as  the  child's 
game  of  soldiers  is  from  the  duties  of  an  active  general. 
Bach,  however,  in  this  case  scarcely  makes  any  pre- 
tence of  writing  a  genuine  fugue.  There  is  just  the  lead 
of  a  brilliant  ornate  subject  by  the  basses,  and  it  is  then 
immediately  taken  up  by  the  sopranos  in  the  same 
part  of  the  scale,  the  other  voices  having  congenial 
lively  passages  to  sing  simultaneously.  The  procedure 
illustrates  the  common-sense  of  the  composer.  To 
have  worked  all  through  the  technicalities  of  the 
exposition  and  other  regulations  of  the  fugal  form,  on 
such  a  civic  occasion,  would  have  been  just  the  point 
in  which  the  submissive  follower  of  conventional 
responsibilities  would  have  gone  astray.  Bach's  clear 
recognition  of  the  validity  of  adapting  the  artistic 
treatment  to  the  situation  is  happily  manifest,  just 
as  it  is  in  his  comprehensive  rejection  of  the  accepted 
regulations  of  fugue  in  the  "Wohltemperirtes  Clavier." 
The  part  which  corresponds  to  the  fugal  portion  of  the 


Leipzig  215 

French  overture  is  indeed  quite  short.  It  is  jubilant 
and  vigorous  with  rhythm  and  movement,  such  as 
clearly  suggest  the  healthy  animation  commonly 
displayed  by  the  masses  of  the  public  on  such  oc- 
casions; and,  after  due  shouting  by  the  crowd  of  ordi- 
nary folk,  the  slow  and  dignified  portion — which  seems 
to  represent  the  distinguished  burgher  councillors — is 
resumed,  and  fitly  completes  a  very  suggestive  move- 
ment on  a  scale  which  would  have  filled  Lulli's  soul 
with  amazement. 

As  far  as  solo  music  was  concerned,  an  occasion  of 
the  kind  did  not  invite  poetic  fervour  and  deep  feelings 
of  loving  devotion.  The  solo  movement  which  strikes 
the  attention  most  vividly  is  the  recitative  for  bass. 
So  herrlich  stehst  du,  liehe  Siadt,  with  brilliant 
flourishes  for  four  trumpets — essentially  a  strik- 
ing piece  of  appropriate  declamation,  of  which  the 
tradition  most  certainly  runs  back  for  centuries,  and 
which  also  presents  itself  frequently  in  modern  operas. 
There  are  two  arias  which  are  not  especially  signifi- 
cant, except  in  the  fact  that  they  are  happily  devised 
for  contrast;  and  the  last  chorus,  after  a  long  intro- 
duction in  which  the  four  trumpets  are  very  much  in 
evidence,  is  effectually  contrived  of  alternations  of 
energetic  passages  for  the  voices  with  characteristic 
passages  for  the  orchestra — all  of  it  rich  in  texture, 
but  direct,  simple,  consonant  with  the  purpose  for 
which  it  was  written.  The  final  Chorale  is  simple. 
The  work  is,  indeed,  carried  out  with  quite  remarkable 
adaptability  to  the  conditions,  and  it  seems  as  if  the 
decorum  of  the  procession  and  the  formalities  of 
quaint  municipal  self-complacency  could  be  read 
through  the  lines  of  the  music,    But  it  represents  Bach 


2i6  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

even  more  than  the  eariier  cantatas  of  the  Leipzig  time 
in  his  public  capacity— the  lovable,  tenderly  poetic, 
personal  Bach  is  necessarily  in  abeyance.  The  insistent 
prominence  of  his  individual  personality  at  such  a 
moment  would  be  clearly  unsuitable;  he  accepts  the 
situation  and  applies  his  comprehensive  mind  to 
enrich  the  work  with  the  highest  artistic  resources 
that  are  appropriate. 

Another  work  of  similarly  festal  character  can  be 
also  identified  as  belonging  to  this  year.  This  is  the 
cantata,  H ochsierwiinscUes  Freudenfest,  which  was 
written  for  the  opening  and  dedication  of  a  new  organ 
in  the  church  of  Stormthal,  a  place  near  Leipzig.  The 
cantata  is  on  very  broad  and  extensive  lines,  divided 
like  Preise,  Jerusalem,  den  Herrn  into  two  portions 
to  enable  the  sermon  to  be  preached  in  the  middle. 
Yet  again  Bach  adopts  the  form  of  the  French  over- 
ture for  the  opening  chorus,  allotting  the  portion  cor- 
responding to  the  adagio  to  the  orchestra,  and  the 
fugal  portion  (which  on  this  occasion  more  nearly 
resembles  the  Lullian  type  by  having  a  very  short 
subject)  to  the  chorus,  and  then  resuming  a  modified 
version  of  the  opening  passage  with  different  distribu- 
tion of  keys  after  the  choral  portion,  and  bringing  in 
the  chorus  for  a  fmal  burst  of  three  bars  at  the  end 
with  great  and  appropriate  effect.  There  are  three 
arias  and  a  duet  for  soprano  and  bass  in  aria  form, 
and  several  recitatives,  one  of  which  is  for  soprano  and 
bass  duet  in  the  form  of  question  and  answer,  after 
the  manner  of  some  of  the  dialogues  of  Hammer- 
schmidt  and  Bach's  own  examples  in  the  Ich  hatte 
viel  Bekiimmerniss,  etc.  The  first  question  will  suf- 
ficiently indicate  the  manner  of  the  procedure.     The 


Leipzig  217 

bass  asks,  ''Kami  wohl  ein  Mensch  {u  Gott  gen  Himmel 
steigen?"  and  the  soprano  answers,  '' Der  Glauhe 
kann  den  Schopjer  {u  ihm  neigen,"  and  so  on.  The 
treatment  is  quite  simple,  and  the  effect  is  obtained  by 
the  inflections  of  the  voice  parts  without  any  enhance- 
ment by  accompaniment. 

For  the  rest,  the  materials  almost  throughout  the 
work  are  of  most  appropriate  type.  The  opening 
instrumental  adagio  is  powerful  and  rhythmic  with 
trochaic  energy;  the  fugal  chorus  most  brilliant,  with 
flowing  melodious  episodes;  the  first  aria  for  bass  is 
exceptionally  fme  in  its  broad  and  characteristic  melody 
and  in  the  fulness  and  richness  of  the  accompaniment; 
and  the  soprano  aria,  which  is  in  gavotte  rhythm,  has 
also  a  beautiful,  flowing  melody  with  a  natural  grace 
which  Bach  was  always  happy  in  assuming.  The  duet 
in  the  second  part  is  in  minuet  rhythm  and  has  a 
graceful  and  pleasant  flow.  It  is  noticeable  that  a 
different  chorale  is  given  for  the  end  of  each  part;  and 
on  this  occasion  Bach  adopts  the  simple  procedure, 
so  often  met  with  in  his  later  cantatas,  of  merely  doub- 
ling the  voice  parts  with  the  instruments,  thereby 
enhancing  the  volume  of  tone  without  further  enhance- 
ment of  the  effect  beyond  the  characteristic  polyphony. 

The  cantata  is  worth  dwelling  upon,  if  only  to 
observe  how  little  Bach  was  inclined  to  relax  the  exer- 
cise of  his  powers  in  works  written  for  special  occasions. 
The  multitude  of  empty  conventional  works  which 
have  been  made  for  special  occasions  induces  the  world 
to  look  askance  at  works  of  this  type  and  to  anticipate 
that  they  will  have  little  genuine  value.  But  this 
cantata  vindicates  Bach's  absolute  sincerity  in  such 
matters.     The  occasion  can  hardly  have  been  a  very 


2i8  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

important  one,  or  one  on  which  a  high  degree  of  artistic 
interest  would  meet  with  appreciation.  But  the  work 
gives  the  impression  that  he  was  not  only  in  a  happy 
vein  but  spared  not  the  most  strenuous  exercise  of  his 
powers  to  make  it  worthy  even  of  the  most  important 
of  occasions,  thereby  disarming  the  anticipation  that 
more  frequent  contact  with  a  big  public  would  lower 
the  standard  of  his  interest  in  his  work.  To  a  man  of 
Bach's  rare  calibre  the  responsibility  of  being  true^  to 
himself  was  of  higher  cogency  than  any  consideration 
of  the  importance  of  the  occasion;  and  though  he  was 
impelled  to  adopt  a  somewhat  different  attitude  with 
regard  to  the  presentation  of  his  thoughts,  the  matter 
and  the  employment  of  artistic  resource  are  always  of 
the  highest  quality  which  the  strenuous  and  loyal 
exercise  of  his  faculties  could  provide. 

This  cantata  was  performed  in  November,  and  it 
is  considered  probable  that  before  the  end  of  the  year 
Bach  not  only  produced  another  cantata,  Christen, 
dt{et  diesen  Tag,  but  also  one  of  the  most  imposing 
and  most  famous  of  his  church  compositions,  the 
Latin  Magnificat,  both  of  which  works  were  written 
for  Christmastide.  It  is  obviously  a  very  plausible 
inference  that  he  would  have  made  an  effort  to  present 
works  of  exceptional  calibre  before  the  people  of 
Leipzig  at  Christmas,  on  the  first  occasion  when  he  was 
responsible  for  the  music  for  that  much  beloved  and 
joyous  festival.  The  cantata  is  splendidly  adapted  for 
the  occasion,  being  scored  for  a  band  which  gave  the 
fmest  opportunities  for  brilliant  effect,  with  four 
trumpets  and  drums,  and  three  hautboys  and  bassoon 
and  strings.  Moreover,  m.uch  of  the  choral  work  is 
brilliantly  jubilant,  especially  the  first  chorus,  and  both 


Leipzig  219 

first  and  last  choruses  are  cast  in  a  very  definite  form, 
nothing  less  indeed  than  the  aria  form  with  full  da 
capo,  which  is  far  more  suitable  for  the  expression 
of  energetic  joyfulness  than  for  more  introspective 
devotional  purposes.  The  solo  movements  which 
occupy  all  the  central  portion  of  the  cantata  are  also, 
for  the  most  part,  consistent  in  mood;  a  duet  for  so- 
prano and  bass  being  made  especially  brilliant  with 
elaborate  ornamentation.  The  whole  work  is  strong, 
vigorous  and  masterly,  in  the  style  most  characteristic 
of  Bach's  earlier  Leipzig  period.  An  exceptional 
feature  is  that  it  contains  no  chorale. 

The  Magnificat,  which  is  the  most  important  church 
work  Bach  had  produced  up  to  this  time,  is  on  lines  for 
which  the  recent  Leipzig  cantatas  above  described 
might  have  served  for  preliminary  studies.  The  scheme 
is  indeed  very  much  like  an  expanded  cantata  of  the 
Leipzig  type.  There  are  no  less  than  six  regular 
arias  in  it;  the  two  grandest  choruses  are  reserved  for 
the  beginning  and  end  of  the  work,  and  the  subordinate 
choruses,  07«7z^5  generationes  and  Fecit  potentiam,  come 
in  as  contrasts  and  serve  to  break  the  monotony  of  a 
succession  of  arias. 

One  thing  must  be  admitted  at  the  outset — there  is 
no  femininity  about  the  work.  There  is  hardly  a  bar 
which  could  be  taken  to  suggest  that  Bach  intended  to 
emphasise  any  personal  aspect  of  the  hymn  of  the  Virgin. 
His  purpose  seems  rather  to  be  to  suggest  the  feeling 
that  Christian  worshippers  in  a  body  adopt  the  hymn  as 
an  expression  of  praise,  gratitude,  and  joy  for  them- 
selves. This  had,  in  course  of  time,  become  the  effect  of 
the  usage  of  the  hymn  for  ecclesiastical  purposes  in 
the  Roman  Church.     The  multitudes  of  composers  who 


220  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

had  set  it  had  all  treated  the  original  source  and  per- 
sonal intention  of  the  hymn  as  a  negligible  quantity. 
Such  a  subtle  idea  as  the  musical  presentation  of  the 
humility,  the  proud  joy,  the  exultation,  the  womanli- 
ness, and  the  wonder  of  the  unique  position  which  the 
Gospel  narrative  gives  as  the  occasion  for  the  hymn, 
would  probably  be  too  modern  for  any  composer  before 
the  twentieth  century  to  concern  himself  with.  (As  a 
matter  of  fact  the  Magnificat  had  become  a  very  special 
expression  of  congregational  adoration — an  act  of 
worship,  illustrating  in  a  high  degree  the  manner  in 
which  the  reliijious  attitude  discards  external  anomalies 

o 

or  inaptness  of  mere  verbal  details  and  accepts  the 
spiritual  meaning,  the  devotional  mood,  the  general 
mental  tone  of  symbolic  utterances  as  its  own.  Such 
a  momentary  detail  as  the  personal  expression,  "res- 
pexit  humilitatem  ancillae  tuae,"  passes  almost 
unnoticed,  while  the  rest  of  the  words  of  the  hymn 
suggest  nothing  that  is  inappropriate  to  a  male  wor- 
shipper. An  analogous  situation  is  frequently  met 
with  in  the  recitation  of  the  Psalms,  and  though 
the  personal  aspect  is  more  in  evidence  in  the  Magni- 
ficat, the  fact  that  Bach  accepted  the  conventional 
usage  is  consistent  with  the  large-minded  and  liberal 
common-sense  which  was  one  of  his  characteristics. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  Bach  consciously 
adopted  any  particular  attitude  towards  the  works 
which  he  set.  It  seems  to  please  a  lightly  think- 
ing world  to  assume  that  both  vicious  and  virtuous 
courses  of  action  are  deliberately  adopted  with  full  and 
careful  weighing  of  each  step;  but  the  consistency  of 
conduct  which  is  often  observable  is  generally  the  result 
of  mere  deeply  rooted  qualities  of  disposition.     When  a 


Leipzig  221 

man  works  quickly  and  spontaneously,  the  little  pre- 
dispositions which  are  always  pulling  in  special  direc- 
tions have  the  fullest  opportunities  to  act. 

It  may  not  be  in  accordance  with  the  usual  concep- 
tion of  Bach's  powerful  and  independent  character, 
but  countless  small  traits  in  his  music  indicate  that  he 
was  very  susceptible  to  external  influences,  both  small 
and  great.  Among  other  things,  he  was  extremely  sus- 
ceptible to  the  style  and  meaning  of  the  words  he  set. 
When  the  sentiments  they  expressed  were  noble, 
pathetic,  devotional,  or  tender,  and  were  put  into  ade- 
quate language,  his  music  revealed  the  complete  con- 
currence of  his  mind.  When  the  words  were  dry  and 
mechanical,  he  sometimes  saved  the  situation  by  put- 
ting into  them  far  more  meaning  than  was  intended 
by  the  authors — more  often  by  making  his  setting  of 
them  ingenious  or  interesting  from  an  artistic  point  of 
view.  Analogously,  when  he  was  writing  music  to 
German  words  his  style  was  most  frequently  Teutonic, 
and  when  he  was  setting  Latin  words  he  was  influ- 
enced by  their  familiar  association  with  music  in  the 
Italian  style.  He  had  studied  the  works  of  many 
distinguished  Italian  composers  and  had  even  copied 
them  out,  and,  as  he  was  always  ready  to  learn  from 
anyone  who  could  teach  him  anything,  he  not  only 
adopted  from  them  principles  of  form,  such  as  are 
shown  in  the  aria,  but  he  also  occasionally  allowed  the 
style  of  their  treatment  of  voices  to  influence  him  (p. 
349).  But  in  this  connection  it  is  to  be  observed  that 
his  polyphony  was  always  much  richer  and  more  free 
and  forcible  than  anything  which  the  best  Italian  com- 
posers could  produce;  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  he 
allowed  himself  characteristic  roughnesses  and  angu- 


222  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

larities  which  they  would  have  regarded  both  as  un- 
singable^-nd  artistically  inexpedient. 

Thechange  which  has  been  indicated  in  the  cantatas 
of  the  first  year  at  Leipzig  was  in  an  Italian  direction, 
and  this  tendency,  combined  with  the  Latinity  of  the 
hymn,  caused  the  music  of  the  Magnificat  to  gravitate 
e\'en  more  strongly  in  the  same  direction.  This  is 
apparent  in  the  conspicuously  diatonic  character  of 
the  choruses.  The  influence  comes  especially  to  a 
head  in  the  massive  conclusion  of  the  chorus  Fecit 
potentiam,  which  is,  in  principle,  just  like  the  familiar 
device  of  the  slow  closing  passages  of  massed  harmonies 
in  Handel's  works.  It  is  also  obvious  in  the  quasi  a 
cappella  chorus,  Sicut  locuius  est.  It  may  also  be  fre- 
quently felt  in  the  solos.  The  romantic  and  humanly 
expressive  Teutonic  sentiment  is  hardly  ever  apparent 
in  them,  and  they  are  for  the  most  part  built  up  with 
polyphonic  complexity,  of  clearly  marked  melodic 
figures.  The  character  of  the  first  chorus  is  most 
strangely  free  from  any  suggestion  of  the  personal  im- 
plications of  the  hymn.  The  rushing  passages  of  the 
violins,  which  form  such  a  striking  feature  both  at  the 
beginning  and  end  of  the  work,  are  quite  conspicuously 
multitudinous — as  if  he  wished  to  suggest  the  exulta- 
tion in  the  word  "magnificat"  to  be  the  utterance  of 
vast  numbers  of  worshippers.  The  vein  of  vigorous 
and  healthy  exultation  was  one  which  was  most  con- 
genial to  him,  and  he  makes  the  several  voices  al- 
ternately express  it  in  florid  phrases,  and  in  short, 
incisive  and  joyous  shouts,  the  whole  being  worked 
out  on  splendidly  broad  and  satisfying  lines.  The 
solos  often  express  the  sentiment  very  happily,  as, 
for  instance,  the  Exidtavit  and  also   the  soprano  solo 


Leipzig  223 

Quia  respexit,  where  the  occurrence  of  the  word  "an- 
cilla"  perhaps  induced  for  the  moment  a  more  per- 
sonal quaHty.  And  again  he  shows  him.self  curiously 
susceptible  to  the  suggestion  of  a  conspicuous  word. 
He  interprets  the  word  ''deposuit"  by  a  downward 
run,  which  becomes  one  of  the  most  persistent  features 
of  the  aria  commencing  with  that  word.  The  duet 
Misericordia,  in  spite  of  the  soothing  effect  of  the 
beautiful  accompaniment  of  the  two  flutes  and 
muted  viola,  seems  to  be  in  a  strain  of  rather  ex- 
cessive melancholy,  as.  if  he  had  been  more  influenced 
by  the  individual  word  than  by  the  hope  and  con- 
fidence which  the  unquenchable  mercy  promised  to  all 
generations  might  inspire.  So  also  the  word  ''Gloria" 
in  the  fmal  chorus  seems  to  have  inspired  him  with  the 
idea  of  the  expansion  of  all-embracing  splendour  of 
glory,  which  he  suggests  by  piling  up  the  voices  in 
superincumbent  passages  of  triplets,  from  low  bass 
notes  upward  to  the  high  soprano  entry,  which  com- 
pletes the  mighty  fmal  chord — a  process  which  he 
repeats  twice  with  interesting  modifications,  so  pro- 
viding for  the  three  clauses — that  is  once  for  each 
person  of  the  Trinity.  The  second  half  of  the  Gloria 
aptly  links  the  end  of  the  whole  work  to  its  beginning, 
by  reverting  to  the  multitudinous  figures,  which,  com- 
bined with  the  new  passages  adapted  to  the  final  words 
of  the  "Gloria,"  makes  a  splendidly  rich  and  vigorous 
conclusion. 

It  may  perhaps  be  said  that  he  was  right  in  not  en- 
deavouring to  associate  the  Latin  words  with  an  essen- 
tially Teutonic  style  of  music.  At  that  time  it  would 
certainly  have  seemed  unnatural.  Even  much  later, 
Beethoven   himself  was  influenced    by    Italian   style 


2  24  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

when  he  set  Latin  words.     But  in  neither  case  is  the 
individuaHty  of  the  composer  sacrificed. 

The  Magnificat  is  Bach's  first  work  on  a  grand  scale 
illustrating  an  expansion  which  was  being  manifested 
in  some  of  his  work,  and  ultimately  bore  even  nobler 
fruit  in  the  colossal  B  minor  Mass.  In  some  senses 
it  may  be  regarded  as  a  preliminary  step  in  that 
direction.  The  highest  possibilities  were  only  to  be 
obtained  by  the  fusion  of  Italian  methods  with  Ger- 
man earnestness.  The  mission  of  the  Latin  races 
in  such  matters  had  been  mainly  to  supply  those 
externals  which  are  serviceable  for  practical  purposes; 
the  mission  of  the  northern  races  has  been  to  attend 
to  the  spiritual.  The  parallel  is  found  in  the  forms 
of  religion  which  have  proved  congenial  to  the  North- 
ern and  Southern  races  respectively.  The  Roman 
Church  made  use  of  every  possible  resource  which 
can  appeal  to  the  eye  by  ceremonial,  and  by  all  the 
panoply  of  vestments,  jewels,  gold  and  silver,  banners, 
processions,  histrionic  disposition  of  gaily  bedizened 
priests  and  functionaries,  and  such  things  as  dazzle 
and  intoxicate  the  senses.  The  typical  Northerners 
were  so  ardent  after  the  spiritual  that  in  many 
cases  they  ruthlessly  swept  away  everything  that 
could  appeal  to  the  senses  at  all.  They  rejoiced 
in  the  ascetic  triumph  of  making  their  places  of 
worship  bare  of  even  the  mere  courtesies  of  devotion 
and  of  ornament.  The  reaction  from  the  excess  of 
materialism  of  the  old  order  impelled  them  to  for- 
get how  much  the  spiritual  is  capable  of  being  helped 
by  the  association  of  externals;  what  romantic  and 
poetic  and  emotional  vistas  are  opened  up  by  concrete 
symbols;  what  trifling  concessions  to  the  cravings  of 


Leipzig  225 

the  physical  nature  can  enhance  susceptibility  to  the 
spiritual.  But  to  the  highest  achievements  attainable 
by  man  in  any  products  of  art  or  intellect  diverse  orders 
of  human  disposition  must  minister. 

The  Italian  and  the  Teutonic  artistic  dispositions  are, 
after  all,  merely  two  types  out  of  many,  but  they  em- 
body the  most  extreme  and  strongly  marked  differences 
in  artistic  bias.  And  for  the  attainment  of  the  highest 
manifestations  of  artistic  quality  as  presented  to  the 
world  in  the  works  of  such  masters  as  Handel,  Bach, 
Mozart,  Haydn,  Beethoven,  and  Wagner,  it  was  inevi- 
table that  the  predominating  racial  instinct  or  tem- 
perament should  admit  a  considerable  fusion  of  alien 
qualities.  Just  as  the  opportunities  of  Bach's  earliest 
posts  had  favoured  his  gifts  in  the  direction  of  organ 
music,  as  the  appointment  at  Cothen  had  favoured  the 
latent  powers  which  bore  fruit  in  secular  instrumental 
compositions,  so  now  the  Leipzig  appointment,  with  its 
more  copious  opportunities  of  public  performance, 
brought  out  those  qualities  in  the  composer  which  en- 
hance the  spiritual  by  the  resources  of  the  practical. 

The  ''Magnificat"  marks  an  important  point  in  the 
process  of  assimilation  which  was,  in  course  of  time, 
to  bear  such  phenomenal  fruit.  But  it  also  presents 
the  Italian  phase  of  Bach's  development  more  strongly 
than  the  German;  the  active  and  formal  more  than 
the  reflective  and  spiritual.  It  is  grand  and  imposing 
as  a  work  of  art  rather  than  as  a  sympathetic  mani- 
festation of  the  individual  John  Sebastian. 

Before  leaving  the  subject  reference  must  be  made  to 
curious  interpolations  which  one  of  the  manuscripts 
shows  to  have  been  made  in  the  performance  with 
special  reference  to  Christmas-tide.     No  less  than  four 

15 


2  26  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

different  numbers  seem  to  have  been  introduced.  After 
the  ExuUavit  there  is  a  note:  "N.  B.  Alhier  folget  der 
Choral  Kow  Himmel  hoch ;  and  after  the  Quia  Fecit, 
"Hierauf  folget  '  Freut  euch  und  jubilirt '";  after  the 
Fecit  poienii am,  "  Hierher  gehort  das  'Gloria  in  excelsis 
Deo'";  after  the  Esurientes,  " Hierauf  folget  'l^irga 
Jesse  floruit. '"  The  first  of  these  is  absolutely  Teu- 
tonic. The  version  given  is  a  perfect  counterpart  of 
the  ideal  Teutonic  form  of  the  Choral vorspiel,  only 
transferred  to  four  voices.  The  chorale  is  sung  in  long 
notes  and  the  other  voices  accompany  it  in  free 
counterpoint,  mainly  contrived  out  of  passages  based 
on  the  figures  of  the  tune.  The  second  referred  to  is  a 
joyous  little  chorus  for  five  voices.  The  Gloria  in 
Excelsis  is  also  a  chorus  in  five  parts,  and  the  yirga 
Jesse  is  the  first  four  lines  of  an  ancient  Latin  hymn 
set  for  duet  between  soprano  and  bass. 

It  was  an  ancient  custom  to  bring  home  to  the  wor- 
shippers by  realistic  devices  the  events  which  became 
prominent  at  certain  festivals  of  the  year.  Such  had 
especially  been  notable  in  the  performance  of  the  Pas- 
sion in  Holy  Week.  But  they  had  also  been  customary 
at  Christmas,  when  such  histrionic  effects  were  adopted 
as  the  bringing  of  a  manger  into  church,  making  the 
choir-boys  proclaim  the  advent  of  Christ  in  the  guise 
of  angels,  and  priests  or  grown-up  members  of  the 
choir  represent  shepherds.  It  was  in  consonance 
with  this  spirit  that  these  strange  and  somewhat  in- 
consistent interpolations  were  made.  That  they  would 
be  apt  to  the  season  of  Christmas  may  be  readily  ad- 
mitted, but  their  use  can  only  be  taken  as  illustrating 
Bach's  disposition  rather  than  his  artistic  sense.  They 
can  in  no  sense  be  taken  as  forming  part  of  the  work, 


Leipzig  227 

but  as  things  which  at  a  certain  season  were  intro- 
duced from  outside  with  reference  solely  to  that  season 
and  having  no  inherent  connection  with  the  work 
itself.  Spitta  suggests  that  the  four  numbers  were 
sung  by  a  small  choir  in  the  organ  loft  of  the 
second  organ  of  St.  Thomas's  Church — if  so  the  efTect 
would  have  been  picturesque  and  interesting.  But 
while  it  is  quite  possible  that  this  procedure  was 
adopted,  there  is  no  direct  evidence  in  its  favour,  and 
the  circumstantial  evidence  is  of  the  very  slenderest. 

Unsubstantiality  of  evidence  unfortunately  prevails 
also  in  connection  with  most  of  the  compositions 
which  are  attributed  to  this  period  of  Bach's  life. 
It  is  thought  probable  that  the  important  cantata 
Da{u  ist  erschienen  was  written  for  the  second  day 
after  Christmas,  and  even  that  another,  Sehet,  welch' 
eine  Liebe,  was  written  for  the  day  after  that.  If 
that  was  so,  Bach's  activity  must  indeed  have  been 
preternatural;  as  it  implies  his  having  anticipated  long 
beforehand  so  completely  as  to  get  the  three  large 
works  ready,  and  also  to  copy  the  parts  and  get  the 
forces  required  adequately  prepared  for  the  perform- 
ance of  three  extremely  difficult  works  in  the  space 
of  four  days. 

The  two  cantatas  are  distinguished  by  the  peculiarity 
that  several  diflFerent  chorales  are  introduced  into  each 
of  them  at  various  points;  which  is  noticeable  because 
Bach  generally  identified  each  cantata  with  one  chorale 
only,  to  concentrate  and  intensify  the  impression  and 
the  spirit  of  the  words  associated  with  it.  The  first 
chorus  in  Da{u  ist  erschienen  is  especially  fine,  com- 
prising a  massive,  almost  homophonic,  opening  portion 
and  an   elaborate  fugue  in   the  middle,  and  there  is 


228  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

a  fine  solo  for  bass,  HolUsche  Schlange,  and  also  a  very 
interesting  recitative  for  alto  solo,  with  elaborate  ac- 
companiment, and  a  joyous  aria  for  tenor,  Christen- 
kinder.  Sehet,  welch'  eine  Liehe  is  not  intrinsically  so 
interesting  or  elaborate,  but  the  chorales  are  beau- 
tiful; and  the  last,  wherein  the  words  Guie  Nacht,  O 
IVesen  are  sung  to  the  tune  of  Jesu,  meine  Freude, 
is  peculiarly  touching  in  its  suggestiveness.  The  first 
version  of  Sie  werden  euch  in  den  Bann  thun  also  con- 
tains two  different  chorales  for  Tenor  Solo  and  the  usual 
Choral  ending,  respectively.  The  two  initial  Choruses 
are  very  strong  and  interesting,  especially  the  second. 
The  outpouring  continued  unabated  at  the  begin- 
ning of  1724.  A  very  imposing  work,  Singet  dem 
Herrn  ein  neues  Lied,  is  attributed  to  New  Year's  day, 
which  would  be  only  a  few  days  after  the  performances 
of  several  of  the  cantatas  above  referred  to.  The  score 
is  incomplete,  as  there  are  lines  prepared  in  the  first 
chorus  for  trumpets  and  drums  and  hautboys,  but 
no  parts  for  them.  However,  in  other  respects  the 
composition  is  adequately  presented.  The  first  chorus 
has  a  massive  opening  and  a  fugue,  ending  with  a 
vigorous  "Alleluja."  The  second  number  is  a  chorale, 
Herr  Goit,  dich  lohen  wir,  for  the  chorus  in  unison, 
with  passages  of  recitative  alternating  with  its 
phrases.  There  is  a  gay  aria  for  alto  with  a  charming 
tune,  and  other  solo  movements,  and  a  full  and  grandi- 
ose chorale  with  a  blaze  of  trumpets  (here  written  out 
in  full)  to  end  with.  The  cantata  appeared  to  Bach 
important  enough  to  have  it  reproduced  with  some  en- 
hancements in  1730  for  the  Jubilee  of  the  Augsburg 
Confession.  The  cantata  Schau ,  lieber  Goit  for  solo 
voices  interspersed  in  an  unusual  manner  with  chorales, 


Leip 


229 


of  which  there  are  three,  is  attributed  to  January  2d ; 
Sie  werden  aus  Saba,  a  cantata  of  large  dimensions, 
with  very  elaborate  work  for  the  voices  in  the  first 
chorus,  is  attributed  to  January  6th;  yet  another,  Mein 
liebster  Jesus,  which  contains  several  beautiful  and 
expressive  arias,  to  January  9th,  and  a  cantata  of 
even  exceptional  beauty  and  interest,  Jesus  schldjt,  to 
January  30th. 

The  last  indeed  is  so  highly  characteristic  of  Bach's 
treatment  that  it  deserves  fuller  consideration.  It  is 
closely  connected  with  the  Gospel  narrative  of  the  day, 
and  the  sleep  of  Jesus  in  the  storm-tossed  boat  on  the 
Lake  of  Gennesaret,  the  terror  of  the  disciples,  the 
awakening,  and  the  words  "O  ye  of  little  faith!"  and 
the  grand  assertion  of  the  ever-present  power  to  save, 
are  dealt  with  in  a  symbolical  sense,  as  applicable 
to  all  Christians.  The  cantata  begins  with  a  pathetic 
aria  for  contralto  expressing  the  trouble  of  the  soul 
while  the  Saviour  seems  to  sleep,  ending  unconven- 
tionally on  a  discord. 

Alto  Solo. 


hoffen 


was  ?   was  ? 


was  soil  ich  hoffen  ? 


Flutes,  k  bee.  .^ 


23©  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

A  tenor  recitative  expresses  the  anxious  question  of 
the  soul  in  perplexity,  Herr!  warum  bleibest  du  so  feme. 
A  brilHant  aria  for  the  same  voice,  with  rushing  passages 
for  vioHns,  gives  suggestion  of  the  disturbance  of  the 
elements,  obviously  intended  figuratively.  Thereon 
follows  a  very  noble  and  serious  arioso  for  bass,  con- 
veying the  reproving  words,  "O  ye  of  little  faith!" 
and  an  aria  for  the  same  voice  commanding  the  ele- 
ments to  be  still.  A  short  recitative  for  alto  conveys  the 
meaning  of  the  words,  '' Wohl  mir!  mein  Jesus  spricht 
ein  Wort,"  and  the  cantata  is  completed  by  an  excep- 
tionally beautiful  and  elaborate  version  of  the  chorale 
tune  JesH,  meine  Freude,  the  aptness  of  which  to  the 
symbolism  of  the  work  as  a  whole  is  obvious. 

It  would  seem  to  trespass  on  the  limits  of  credibility 
to  suggest  that  Bach  would  have  another  important 
work  ready  by  February  2nd.  But  the  arguments 
seem  valid  enough  to  justify  the  attribution  of  the  first 
performance  of  Erjreute  Zett  to  that  date.  It  is  not 
so  interesting  as  the  previously  mentioned  work,  but 
full  of  vigour  and  decisiveness,  and  manifests  kindred 
features  with  the  "Magnificat."  Speculative  enter- 
prise as  well  as  the  influence  of  Leipzig  may  have 
impelled  him  to  make  use  of  the  form  of  the  Italian 
concerto  in  the  first  chorus  of  the  cantata. 

The  first  of  the  three  Cantatas  beginning  with  the 
words  IV as  Gott  thut  probably  belongs  to  this  period. 
Its  scheme  is  peculiar.  It  has  no  final  Chorale;  but  as 
the  first  Chorus  resembles  a  type  frequently  met  with 
in  final  Chorale-movements,  it  may  have  been  an 
experiment  in  transposition. 

Over  and  above  the  colossal  amount  of  production 


Leipzig  231 

in  the  special  line  of  church  cantatas,  the  year  1724 
is  notable  (if  the  arguments  and  inferences  in  favour 
of  the  date  are  valid)  for  the  first  performance  of  the 
"Johannes-Passion/'  Bach's  first  essay  in  the  form  of 
"Passion  Musik."  It  is  true  there  is  no  proof  posi- 
tive of  the  date;  but  if  the  arguments  in  favour  of 
its  having  been  1724  are  somewhat  intricate  and  un- 
convincing, the  arguments  in  favour  of  any  other 
date  are  not  forthcoming. 

The  first  composition  of  J.  S.  Bach  of  this  kind 
is  of  very  great  interest  for  many  reasons.  The  most 
obvious  reason  is  that  he  achieved  the  one  great 
work  which  stands  absolutely  alone  and  unapproach- 
able as  the  ideal  of  this  form  of  art,  and  that  this 
achievement  was,  as  in  so  many  other  cases,  the  fruit  of 
the  gathering  up  of  previous  experiments,  of  which  the 
*' Johannes-Passion"  is  the  penultimate  in  point  of  scale 
and  style.  Another  reason  is  that  this  branch  of  com- 
position is  the  most  copious  manifestation  in  any  form 
of  art  of  the  essential  qualities  of  pure  Teutonic  de- 
votionalism;  its  sentiment,  its  love  of  symbolism,  its 
reflective  absorption  in  mystical  fancies,  its  human 
qualities,  and  the  peculiar  conception  which  Teutonic 
Protestants  had  established  as  their  ideal  of  the  rela- 
tion between  man  and  Christ.  Of  the  long  growth 
towards  this  idea  Bach  was  the  product,  and  after  the 
long  development  of  his  own  powers  by  the  study  of  the 
music  of  other  nations  in  other  phases  of  art  he  proved 
that  he  had  foregone  none  of  his  own  birthrights  as  a 
Teuton,  but  had  so  completely  assimilated  and  ab- 
sorbed the  methods  of  art  into  his  own  power  that  they 
minister  without  traces  of  anything  incompatible  to 
the  ultimate  triumph  of  the  Teutonic  ideal. 


232  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

The  reformation  in  Germany  was,  among  other 
things,  an  attempt  to  purge  religion  from  the  crude 
traces  of  primitive  superstition  which,  though  sancti- 
fied by  an  immense  tradition  of  years  and  highly  inter- 
esting as  showing  the  continuity  of  successive  forms  of 
religion,  were  better  suited  to  Latin  and  Southern  races 
than  to  the  Northerners,  whose  intellectual  perceptions 
and  instinct  for  critical  verification  were  so  much  more 
vivacious.  The  instinct  of  the  Teutonic  Protestant 
was  to  get  away  from  all  the  hagiology  and  the  para- 
phernalia and  external  accessories  of  the  Rom.an  form 
of  Christianity,  and  to  reinfuse  the  story  of  Christ's 
life  and  teaching  with  vivid  reality,  most  especially 
in  its  human  aspect.  In  some  ways  the  difference 
between  the  two  forms  of  the  religion  may  be  summar- 
ised in  the  sense  that  Southern  imaginativeness  was 
projected  to  the  idea  of  the  Godhead  which  was  made 
man,  and  Northern  earnestness  was  inspired  by  the 
idea  of  the  manhood  which  manifested  the  Divine. 
In  the  one  conception  the  multiplication  of  an  infinity 
of  supernatural  artificialities  is  entailed,  in  the  other 
the  unlimited  brooding  on  the  ideal  possibilities  of  the 
ideal  human  character.  The  one  suggests  abasement 
before  the  infinite  magnificence  of  the  Godhead,  the 
other  the  deep  love  for  the  manhood. 

The  growth  of  the  "  Passion''  form  shows  the  bent  of 
the  race.  The  Reformed  Church  inherited  from  the 
Roman  Church  the  tradition  of  presenting  the  story  of 
the  "Passion"  with  sundry  slight  histrionic  devices 
to  bring  it  home  to  the  minds  of  the  worshipper.  In 
the  week  devoted  to  the  contemplation  of  the  final 
episodes  of  the  tragedy  which  touched  the  souls  of 
humanity  so  deeply,  the  story  as  told  in  the  Gospel 


Leipzig  233 

was  broken  up  into  the  component  elements  of  narra- 
tive and  actual  words  spoken  by  individuals  and  dis- 
tributed to  various  members  of  the  officiating  priests 
and  the  choir.  So  that  the  mere  narrative  portion  was 
taken  by  one  person,  and  the  words  used  by  various 
individual  characters  were  taken  severally  by  others, 
while  the  words  of  groups  of  people  of  any  kind  were 
taken  by  the  choir,  which  in  that  aspect  was  known 
technically  as  the  "Turba." 

The  tradition  of  the  employment  of  music  in  the  per- 
formance is  so  ancient  that  it  reaches  back  into  the  ages 
where  tangible  records  cease.  Such  music  was  inevita- 
bly of  the  same  description  as  all  the  rest  of  the  "plain- 
song"  consisting  mainly  of  monotone  recitatives  with 
archaic  formulas  of  cadences,  and  occasional  passages  of 
more  elaborate  melody  at  special  salient  points  of  the 
story.  Teutons  have  always  found  this  type  of  re- 
ligious art  congenial,  as  is  shown  by  their  love  of  miracle 
plays,  "Marienklagen,"  and  kindred  exhibitions  in  the 
middle  ages ;  so  the  "  Passions  musik"  form  was  retained, 
like  many  other  features  of  the  Roman  Church,  by  the 
Protestants,  and  very  soon  characteristically  ampli- 
fied. The  number  of  German  composers  who  addressed 
themselves  to  the  composition  of  Passion  music  is  a 
striking  proof  of  its  congeniali  ty  to  the  race.  Beginning 
as  early  as  1530,  within  six  years  of  being  called  by  his 
friend  Luther  to  advise  on  the  music  of  the  Reformed 
services,  Johann  Walther  produced  settings  of  the 
Passion  according  to  St.  Matthew  and  St.  John,  and 
before  the  end  of  the  century  many  German  composers 
added  compositions  of  the  same  kind,  which  became 
more  elaborate  and  graphic  as  time  went  on. 

Among  those  which  followed  soon  after  Walther's 


234 


Johann  Sebastian  Bach 


should  certainly  be  mentioned  the  "Historia  vom 
Leiden  und  Sterben  unseres  Herren  und  Heilandes 
Jesu  Christi,"  etc.,  by  an  otherwise  unknown  composer, 
Bartholomaus  Gese,  because  it  represents  very  artis- 
tically a  scheme  which  must  have  been  much  in  vogue. 
The  story  is  told  by  the  Evangelist  in  monotone,  di- 
versified by  simple  formulas  like  those  of  the  ancient 
church,  which  are  so  consistently  used  that  they  give 
a  faint  suggestion  of  methodical  form  to  the  indefinite 
monotony  of  the  intonation.  The  most  prominent  are 
the  following: 


In  the  course  of 

a  passage  of  recitation: 

1 

t 

*^    e 

(+«544 

-p- 

1- 

si- 

--H          H— 

Mit 
The  close  of  the 

Fackeln,  Lampen, 
same  passage  being  as  f( 

1 

und 

)Uow8: 

mit 

0 

Waff  -  en 

I    C   K                           ^            ^         "         (T^           CP 

(^" 

\  n^       -       ^       7     '      \        I 

U  Ur ^ — : 1 — ^ — 1 1 1 \ k 

1 



' 

Gieng     er        hin  -  aus    und    sprach    zu        ihn  -    en 

And  again  corresponding  to  the  first  of  the  above  in  another  place . 

—^. 1 1 ^ 


m 


Und  als  bald       kra     -      het  der 

And  corresponding  to  the  second  of  the  above : 


Hahn 


^^ 


Sie        antworten  und     sprach  -  en         zu  im, 

The  work  is  peculiar  in  the  use  of  the  chorus  for 
purposes  other  than  the  traditional  "Turba,"  inas- 
much as  the  words  of  Jesus  and  Peter  and  Pontius 


Leipzig  235 

Pilate  and  other  individuals,  as  well  as  those  of  the 
Jews,  are  given  to  the  choir  in  various  numbers  of 
parts.  The  proceedings  are  initiated  by  a  very  solemn 
prefatory  chorus,  to  the  words  ''Erhebet  eure  Hertzen 
zu  Gott,  und  horet  das  Leiden  unsers  Herren  Jesu 
Christi,"  etc.  After  the  consummation  of  the  tragedy 
with  the  words  "Und  neiget  sein  Haupt  und  verschied," 
the  music  is  stopped  for  a  time  and  silence  enjoined 
for  a  sermon;  after  which  the  "Evangelist"  resumes 
the  recital  and  tells  of  the  removal  of  the  body  to  the 
tomb,  where  the  story  stops.  And  the  conclusion  is 
made  by  a  simple  fmal  chorus,  to  the  words  "  Dank 
sei  dem  Herren,  der  uns  erloset  hat  durch  sein  Leiden 
von  der  Hellen." 

A  striking  landmark  is  the  group  of  Passions  ac- 
cording to  all  the  four  Evangelists  by  Heinrich  Schiitz, 
which  must  have  been  written  soon  after  the  middle 
of  the  seventeenth  century.  They  represent  the  phase 
of  development  when  the  form  had  become  thoroughly 
Teutonised  and  had  not  yet  assimilated  the  newly  ex- 
panding methods  of  Italian  art.  These  works  consist 
of  archaic  formulas  of  recitative,  probably  Teu- 
tonic, distributed  to  the  various  characters  and  inter- 
spersed by  occasional  unaccompanied  choruses  in  five 
parts  whenever  the  ''Turba's"  utterances  come  into 
the  narrative;  each  work  being  prefaced  and  concluded 
by  an  unaccompanied  chorus  in  more  or  less  poly- 
phonic style,  to  words  which  are  either  explanatory 
or  commentatory.  The  range  of  artistic  method  is 
limited  in  the  extreme,  but  the  works  nevertheless 
have  considerable  fascination  through  the  consistency 
and  sincerity  of  the  style  and  the  beauty  of  the  expres- 
sion.    Schiitz   indicates    the   direction    in    which    the 


236  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

treatment  of  the  form  is  progressing  by  introducing 
occasional  moments  of  dramatic  feeling,  as  in  the 
choruses  representing  utterances  of  the  Jews  and  of  the 
Apostles.  This  type  of  Passion  music  is  more  amply 
illustrated  in  the  "Resurrection,"  also  by  Schutz,  in 
which  instruments  and  rather  more  elaborate  solo  music 
are  introduced.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  in  these  ex- 
amples there  are  no  chorales.  They,  indeed,  waited 
till  a  very  striking  transformation  of  the  form  came 
about  in  the  course  of  the  succeeding  century. 

It  is  characteristic  of  Teutonic  disposition  to  dwell 
upon  things  which  appeal  to  the  feelings,  and,  as  it 
were,  to  contemplate  them  from  various  points  of  view. 
The  old  method  of  Passion  music  was  merely  to  go 
through  the  story  without  pause.  The  practice  of 
pausing  and  contemplating  came  in  late  in  the  seven- 
teenth or  the  beginning  of  the  next  century,  when 
arias  for  solo  voices,  forming  commentaries  on  salient 
features  of  the  story,  were  introduced;  and  about 
the  same  time  chorales  were  also  introduced  to  enable 
the  congregation  to  feel  that  they  were  taking  part 
in  the  solemn  function.  Then,  as  time  w'ent  on,  the 
contemporary  types  of  artistic  method  came  in  more 
and  more,  the  archaic  plain-song  formulas  were  trans- 
formed into  recitative,  the  dramatic  choruses  expanded, 
and  the  points  where  pauses  were  made  to  con- 
template and  emphasise  the  salient  situations  were 
more  effectively  utilised  as  composers  mastered  the 
modern  Italian  types  of  solo  and  found  out  how  to 
make  the  chorale  movements  more  effective  and  in- 
teresting. By  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century 
the  standard  of  art  had  become  very  comprehensive. 

One  of  the  earliest  examples  of  the  century  was 


Leipzi 


g  237 


Handel's  first  "Passion,"  which  is,  on  good  grounds, 
held  to  have  been  written  in  1 704.  It  is  peculiarly  inter- 
esting as  illustrating  his  musical  character  and  style 
before  he  felt  the  full  measure  of  Italian  influence  and 
transformed  his  art  to  suit  the  taste  of  thoroughly 
un-Teutonic  audiences.  It  might,  indeed,  serve  as 
a  touchstone  for  the  standard  of  Passion-music  art 
before  John  Sebastian  gave  his  mind  to  it.  We  find 
from  it  that  the  special  type  of  expressive  recitative, 
which  was  used  with  such  supreme  effect  by  Bach, 
was  really  founded  on  traditions  of  some  standing. 
For  Handel  in  this  early  work  employs  precisely  the 
same  peculiar  type,  which  often  hovers  on  the  verge 
between  the  melodious  and  fully  accompanied  arioso 
and  the  purely  elocutionary  recitative.  Indeed,  in  the 
early  works,  some  of  the  quasi-recitatives  are  quite 
strikingly  Teutonic  in  the  fervour  of  their  devotional 
and  genuinely  emotional  expression.  Handel's  "Pas- 
sion" also  shows  the  full  recognition  of  the  aria  in  its 
contemplative  aspect,  as  we  here  find  several  solos 
following  essential  points  in  the  narrative.  For  in- 
stance, at  the  very  outset  of  the  work,  after  a  very 
expressive  recitative  of  the  Evangelist  to  the  words 
"Then  Pilate  took  Jesus  and  scourged  him,"  the 
soprano  solo  follows  with  the  aria,  "Sins  of  ours  of 
deepest  stain."  After  the  recitative,  "Then  delivered 
he  Him  unto  them  to  be  crucified,"  follows  the  alto 
solo,  "Take  courage,  soul,  the  love  divine  embracing." 
Handel  even  anticipates  Bach  in  giving  as  the  final 
chorus  the  words  "Schlafe  wohl,  nach  deinen  Leiden." 
The  only  feature  of  the  full  panoply  of  the  final  form 
of  Passion  music  which  is  not  conspicuously  in  evidence 
is  the  use  of  the  chorales,  otherwise  the  scheme  is  quite 


238  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

complete,  and  the  work  is  one  of  very  great  interest 
and  full  of  expression. 

In  17 12,  that  is,  some  few  years  after  Handel  wrote 
his  first  "Passion,"  Reinhard  Reiser  composed  music  to 
text  by  B.  H.  Brockes,  which  was  considered  very  ad- 
mirable, and  it  was  performed  at  Hamburg  in  that 
year  and  the  following.  The  same  text  was  again 
set  by  Handel  later;  and  Kuhnau  produced  yet  another 
"Passion  according  to  St.  Mark/'  in  172 1,  the  last 
year  of  his  life.  The  latter  is  said  to  have  been  more 
archaic  in  style,  but  contained  many  chorales. 

The  "Passion"  form  had  thus  expanded  from  simple 
beginnings  to  a  very  elaborate  and  subtle  form  of  art 
before  Bach  came  to  Leipzig.  Since  he  had  been  there 
he  had  developed  his  methods  in  church  music,  and 
though  the  date  cannot  be  fixed  with  certainty,  it  is 
argued  with  much  plausibility,  as  has  been  before 
mentioned,  that  the  first  version  of  his  first  "Passion, " 
that  according  to  St.  John,  was  first  performed  in  Holy 
Week  in  1724.  It  is  an  interesting  fact,  as  showing  the 
manner  in  which  Bach  considered  and  reconsidered  his 
great  works  when  opportunity  served,  that  the  first 
version  of  the  "Johannes-Passion"  began  with  the 
noble  and  pathetic  chorus,  O  Mensch  bewein  dein 
Siinde  gross !  which  was  afterwards  transferred  to  the 
"  jMatthaus-Passion,"  where  it  concludes  the  first  part. 
As  it  stands  there  it  represents  a  very  elaborate  ex- 
pansion of  the  chorale-fantasia  type;  the  orchestral 
instruments  having  expressive  figures  which  are  main- 
tained throughout,  the  trebles  having  a  chorale  tune 
in  long  notes,  and  the  other  voices  supplying  the  choral 
polyphonic  texture.  The  sentiment  is  absolutely  Teu- 
tonic in  its  deep  sincerity  and  pathos,  and  represents 


Leipzig  239 

the  composer  in  a  most  characteristic  vein.  He 
possibly  rem.oved  it  from  the  beginning  of  the  "Jo- 
hannes-Passion" because  of  its  intimate  and  reflective 
character  and  its  extrem.e  elaboration  of  texture,  and 
substituted  the  chorus  which  now  stands  at  the  be- 
ginning, Herr  unser  Herrscher,  which  is  more  massive 
and  direct,  and  is  therefore  m.ore  suitable  for  the  cut- 
set and  point  of  departure  of  a  work  on  such  a  grand 
scale.  This  chorus,  like  the  initial  choruses  in  earlier 
"Passions,"  stands  apart  as  a  sort  of  introductory 
comment;  and  is  noticeably  cast  on  the  broad  lines 
of  an  aria  with  a  first  part  and  a  contrasting  part 
and  a  complete  da  capo. 

When  it  is  over  the  actual  story  begins,  the  Evan- 
gelist, according  to  ancient  practice,  being  the  tenor 
soloist,  whose  office  is  to  tell  all  narrative  portions  in 
true  recitative,  without  a  trace  of  the  old  plain-song 
or  other  archaic  type  of  chanting;  the  characters  of 
the  tragedy  being  taken  by  the  various  suitable  singers, 
the  part  of  Jesus  being  allotted  to  a  bass,  and  the  part, 
of  Peter  to  a  tenor,  and  so  on.  The  voices  of  many 
people  (after  the  ancient  tradition)  are  allotted  to 
the  choir,  which  has  many  incisive  outbursts  in  forms 
of  utterance  which  are  graphically  realistic.  Over  and 
above  the  offices  of  merely  dealing  with  the  story,  both 
choir  and  soloists  have  now  the  important  duty  to 
perform  of  keeping  the  mind  occupied  with  the  salient 
situations — the  choir  in  the  numerous  chorales  and  the 
occasional  commentatory  choruses,  and  the  soloists  in 
the  various  arias  which  have  the  same  function.  The 
scheme,  indeed,  was  not  new,  as  the  same  distribution 
of  solo  movements  is  found  in  Handel's  early  "Passion"; 
but  Bach  was,  even  in  the  first  example,  importing  a 


240  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

deeper  devotional  tone,  a  greater  richness  of  expression, 
and  a  wider  scope  than  had  hitherto  appeared  in  this 
form  of  art;  and  he  was,  moreover,  speaking  in  the 
Teutonic  manner  which  was  natural  to  him,  in  recita- 
tive, aria,  and  chorus  alike. 

His  resourcefulness  in  enforcing  the  meaning  of 
the  words  by  artistic  devices  is  illustrated  constantly, 
as,  for  instance,  after  the  Evangelist  tells  of  Jesus 
carrying  the  cross  to  Golgotha,  follows  the  commen- 
tatory  aria  for  bass,  Eilt,  ihr  angejochfnen  Seelen 
aiis  eiiren  Masierhohlen,  eilt  nach  Golgatha  and  the 
chorus  break  in  v^ith  short  ejaculations  "Wohin? 
Wohin?"  coming  to  the  perfect  application  of  the 
scheme  when  the  pause  on  the  word  "wohin"  throws 
the  answer  of  the  solo  voice,  "nach  Golgatha,"  into 
poignant  relief.  So,  again,  in  the  bass  aria  which 
follows  the  words  of  the  short  recitative,  Ufid  neigte 
das  Haiipi  und  verschied,  the  choir  make  a  kind  of 
affirmatory  comment  with  the  chorale,  Jesu,  der  du 
ivarest  iodt,  on  the  words  given  to  the  soloist.  And 
the  whole  work  ends  with  a  tenderly  expressive  chorus, 
Ruht  wohl  in  the  simiple  and  definite  form  of  an 
aria,  and  a  final  chorale. 

In  considering  such  a  work  as  the  "Johannes -Passion" 
Bach's  use  of  his  instrumental  resources  calls  for  some 
notice.  The  resources  which  he  had  at  his  disposal 
were,  without  doubt,  the  same  as  he  would  have  had 
for  any  of  his  cantatas,  among  which  three  trumpets 
and  drums  and  horns  had  frequently  been  prominent. 
But  the  attitude  of  composers  of  that  time  to  the  or- 
chestra was  altogether  difi"erent  from  that  of  later  times. 
It  was  usual  then,  as  has  been  before  mentioned, 
to  choose  particular  groups  of  instruments  for  par- 


Leipzig  241 

ticular  movements,  and  to  spread  the  tone  colour 
over  wide  spaces,  when  in  modern  music  there 
would  have  been  a  constant  shimmer  of  variety. 
A  composer  who  really  gave  his  mind  to  his  work  would 
choose  the  particular  instruments  which  were  most 
appropriate  to  the  sentiment  of  the  words  and  the 
character  of  the  movement.  This  is  obviously  shown 
in  the  rnanner  in  which  Bach  as  well  as  other  composers 
reserved  the  trumpets  for  brilliant  occasions,  and  for 
movements  in  which  there  is  exuberance  of  rejoicing  or 
praise.  It  is  also  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  Bach 
omits  them  as  well  as  the  horns  altogether  from  the 
score  of  the  ''Johannes-Passion."  It  was  natural  that, 
for  a  function,  the  object  of  which  was  the  devout 
contemplation  of  the  central  mystery  and  tragedy  of 
religion,  he  should  choose  instruments  of  more  subdued 
tone,  and  he  distributes  them  with  evident  considera- 
tion for  the  enhancement  of  the  sentiment. 

For  the  ordinary  full  work  of  accompaniments  to 
choruses  and  chorales,  flutes  and  hautboys  join  with 
the  strings  and  organ,  sometimes  having  separate  parts, 
sometimes  merely  doubling  the  voices,  and  sometimes 
doubling  the  strings.  Bach's  habit  in  that  respect 
must  be  admitted  to  be  puzzling.  It  can  only  be  in- 
ferred that  he  accepted  the  usual  course  in  this  matter, 
and  it  is  strange  that  its  many  anomalies  should  not 
have  arrested  his  attention.  The  flutes  are  often  too 
weak  for  the  work  they  have  to  perform  when  they 
wrestle  in  the  polyphony  on  equal  terms  with  the 
strings,  while  the  flutes,  hautboys,  and  strings,  being 
doubled  or  even  trebled  in  unison,  only  spoil  one  an- 
other's tone,  and  the  persistent  sound  of  the  piercing 
hautboy  becomes,  as  has  been  before  remarked,  posi- 

16 


240  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

deeper  devotional  tone,  a  greater  richness  of  expression, 
and  a  wider  scope  than  had  hitherto  appeared  in  this 
form  of  art;  and  he  was,  moreover,  speaking  in  the 
Teutonic  manner  which  was  natural  to  him,  in  recita- 
tive, aria,  and  chorus  alike. 

His  resourcefulness  in  enforcing  the  meaning  of 
the  words  by  artistic  devices  is  illustrated  constantly, 
as,  for  instance,  after  the  Evangelist  tells  of  Jesus 
carrying  the  cross  to  Golgotha,  follows  the  commen- 
tatory  aria  for  bass,  Eilt,  ihr  angejoMnen  Seelen 
alls  eiiren  Masterhohlen,  eilt  nach  Golgatha  and  the 
chorus  break  in  with  short  ejaculations  "Wohin? 
Wohin?"  coming  to  the  perfect  application  of  the 
scheme  when  the  pause  on  the  word  "wohin"  throws 
the  answer  of  the  solo  voice,  "nach  Golgatha,"  into 
poignant  relief.  So,  again,  in  the  bass  aria  which 
follows  the  words  of  the  short  recitative,  Und  neigte 
das  Haupt  und  verschied,  the  choir  make  a  kind  of 
affirmatory  comment  with  the  chorale,  Jesu,  der  du 
ivarest  iodt,  on  the  words  given  to  the  soloist.  And 
the  whole  work  ends  with  a  tenderly  expressive  chorus, 
Ruht  wohl  in  the  simiple  and  definite  form  of  an 
aria,  and  a  final  chorale. 

In  considering  such  a  workas  the  "Johannes -Passion" 
Bach's  use  of  his  instrumental  resources  calls  for  some 
notice.  The  resources  which  he  had  at  his  disposal 
were,  without  doubt,  the  same  as  he  would  have  had 
for  any  of  his  cantatas,  among  which  three  trumpets 
and  drums  and  horns  had  frequently  been  prominent. 
But  the  attitude  of  composers  of  that  time  to  the  or- 
chestra was  altogether  different  from  that  of  later  times. 
it  was  usual  then,  as  has  been  before  mentioned, 
to  choose  particular  groups  of  instruments  for  par- 


Leipzig  241 

ticular  movements,  and  to  spread  the  tone  colour 
over  wide  spaces,  when  in  m.odern  music  there 
Vvould  have  been  a  constant  shimmer  of  variety. 
A  composer  who  really  gave  his  mind  to  his  work  would 
choose  the  particular  instruments  which  were  most 
appropriate  to  the  sentiment  of  the  words  and  the 
character  of  the  movement.  This  is  obviously  shown 
in  the  rnanner  in  which  Bach  as  well  as  other  composers 
reserved  the  trumpets  for  brilliant  occasions,  and  for 
movements  in  which  there  is  exuberance  of  rejoicing  or 
praise.  It  is  also  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  Bach 
omits  them  as  well  as  the  horns  altogether  from  the 
score  of  the  "Johannes-Passion."  It  was  natural  that, 
for  a  function,  the  object  of  which  was  the  devout 
contemplation  of  the  central  mystery  and  tragedy  of 
religion,  he  should  choose  instruments  of  more  subdued 
tone,  and  he  distributes  them  with  evident  considera- 
tion for  the  enhancement  of  the  sentiment. 

For  the  ordinary  full  work  of  accompaniments  to 
choruses  and  chorales,  flutes  and  hautboys  join  with 
the  strings  and  organ,  sometimes  having  separate  parts, 
sometimes  merely  doubling  the  voices,  and  sometimes 
doubling  the  strings.  Bach's  habit  in  that  respect 
must  be  admitted  to  be  puzzling.  It  can  only  be  in- 
ferred that  he  accepted  the  usual  course  in  this  matter, 
and  it  is  strange  that  its  many  anomalies  should  not 
have  arrested  his  attention.  The  flutes  are  often  too 
weak  for  the  work  they  have  to  perform  when  they 
wrestle  in  the  polyphony  on  equal  terms  with  the 
strings,  while  the  flutes,  hautboys,  and  strings,  being 
doubled  or  even  trebled  in  unison,  only  spoil  one  an- 
other's tone,  and  the  persistent  sound  of  the  piercing 
hautboy  becomes,  as  has  been  before  remarked,  posi- 
16 


2  42  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

tively  distressing.     But  the  distribution  of  the  solo  in- 
struments in  accompanying  the  arias  is  evidently  care- 
fully considered,  both  with  the  view  of  aptness  to  the 
sentiment  and  to  the  general  plan  of  the  work.     Thus 
the  first  aria,  which  is  in  a  tender,  sad  strain,  is  accom- 
panied by  two  hautboys  and  figured  bass ;  the  second, 
in  a  bright  and  loving  vein,  is  accompanied  by  the 
flutes  doubled  in  unison  passages.     The  third  aria,  in 
which  much  use  is  made  of  slow,  expressive  polyphony, 
is  happily  allotted  to  the  strings;  the  solemnly  pathetic 
arioso,    Beirachte,    meine    SeeV,    is    accompanied    by 
the  unique  and  suggestive  combination  of  two  viole 
d'amore  and  lute,  which  must  have  had  a  sense  of 
twilight  stillness  and  quietude,  truly  admirable  for  the 
contemplation  suggested  by  the  words;  the  aria  which 
follows  is  connected  with   the  arioso  by  continuing 
the  use  of  the  viole  d'amore,  but  the  appearance  of  the 
lute  in  the  work  is  restricted  to  the  arioso.     In  the  aria 
relating  to  the  Crucifixion,  Es  ist  vollhracU,  the  viola 
da  gamba  is  employed ;    in  the  arioso,   Mein    Her{, 
following  the  reference  to  the  earthquake  and  the  veil 
of  the    temple   being  rent,  the   natural  expedient  is 
employed  of  strings  tremolandi  and  rushing  in  rapid 
unison  passages  below  chords  for  the  flutes  and  oboi 
da  caccia,  and  in  the  last  aria  Zerfliesse,  mein  Her^e  the 
two  oboi   da  caccia   are   combined  with   flutes   and 
the  throbbing  bass  of  the  lower  instruments.      Thus 
each  aria  is  accom.panied  by  a  different  group  of  in- 
struments, not  only  inducing  contrasts  in  wide  spaces, 
but,   as  it   were,  allocating  a  special  colour  to  each 
reflective  sentiment.   The  system  presupposes  long  con- 
tinuance in  one  vein  of  feeling,  which  is  not  altogether 
natural  to  modern  audiences,  and  requires  some  revival, 


Leipzig  243 

at  least  in  imagination,  of  the  conditions  in  which  the 
work  was  produced. 

It  may  also  be  said  that  without  some  such  help  it  is 
difficult  for  a  modern  audience  not  to  feel  puzzled  by 
the  absence  of  a  definite  plan  in  the  work  as  a  whole. 
The  work  is  Teutonic  in  its  absence  of  quasi-archi- 
tectonic features.  Teutonic  feeling  was  satisfied  when 
each  successive  movement  was  full  of  meaning,  and 
did  not  require  any  dramatic  developments  to  crises, 
or  formal  and  mechanical  distribution  of  the  compo- 
nents of  the  scheme,  to  satisfy  the  desire  for  form.  It 
is  noticeable  that  the  mood  and  style  show  but  little 
trace  of  the  special  line  of  work  which  Bach  had  done 
in  the  Leipzig  cantatas  and  "Magnificat"  which  had 
preceded  its  production,  and  this  may  add  weight  to 
the  theory  that  this  "Passion"  had  been  written  before 
he  left  Cothen.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  to  be 
remembered  that  in  this  work  he  was  on  absolutely 
Teutonic  ground,  and  that  the  great  "Matthaus- 
Passion"  which  came  later  is  equally  free  from  traces 
of  the  Italian  influences  which  sometimes  peep  out  in 
the  cantatas. 

In  the  period  which  intervened  between  the  produc- 
tion of  the  "Johannes-Passion"  in  1724,  and  the  great 
"Matthaus-Passion"  in  1729  no  conspicuous  works  on 
a  similarly  large  scale  can  be  proved  to  have  come 
into  existence.  It  can  only  be  guessed  with  approx- 
imate certainty  that  Bach  was  mainly  occupied  in 
pouring  out  church  cantatas  with  ceaseless  activity; 
and,  no  doubt,  a  considerable  portion  of  his  time 
was  spent  in  grappling  with  the  awkward  situations 
induced  by  the  disorganisation  of  the  St.  Thomas 
School,  and  the  inadequacy  of  the  band  which  w^as 


244  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

at  his  disposal,  and  with  periodical  differences  with  the 
authorities. 

The  year  1724  was,  without  any  doubt,  a  specially 
prolific  year  in  respect  of  church  cantatas,  and  new  ones 
made  their  appearance  immediately  after  the  "Johan- 
nes-Passion." The  first  work  which  is  surmised  with 
fair  measure  of  likelihood  to  have  followed  is  the  deeply 
impressive  cantata,  Christ  lag  in  Todeshanden,  which 
is  allotted  to  the  second  day  of  Easter,  1724.  In  some 
ways  it  stands  out  from  the  usual  scheme  of  Leipzig 
cantatas,  and  reverts  to  an  earlier  and  more  individual 
manner,  for  it  is  more  archaic  and  severe  in  style,  but 
of  that  archaicism  and  severity  into  which  Bach  could 
infuse  so  deep  a  meaning.  And  the  meaning  is  intensi- 
fied a  hundred-fold  by  the  fact  that  every  movement 
is  a  kind  of  variation  or  fantasia  on  the  tune  of  the 
chorale,  wherein  it  is  an  isolated  foretaste  of  the 
type  of  cantata  which  Bach  adopted  most  frequently 
in  his  latest  years,  and  indicates  its  essentially  Teu- 
tonic character.  The  scheme  is  devoid  of  arias,  but 
after  the  first  chorus  (which  is  a  superb  adaptation 
for  voices  of  the  form  of  the  organ  chorale-fantasia, 
ending  with  a  vigorous  "  Hallelujah"  as  a  sort  of  coda), 
two  single  voices  (the  soprano  and  the  alto)  take  up 
a  new  treatment  of  the  chorale  broken  up  into  short 
phrases;  then  follows  the  single  tenor  part  with  a  more 
flowing  treatment  of  the  tune  of  the  chorale  to  the 
words,  "Jesus  Chrisius,  Gottes  Sohn,  an  miser  Stall 
ist  kommen,  tind  hat  die  Silnde  weggethan,  damit  dem 
Tod  genommen."  Then  follows  a  chorus  giving  the 
chorale  in  short  notes,  fugally,  then  another  movement 
for  bass  gives  the  tune  in  three  time  instead  of  four 
with  a  swinging  gait,  then  the  soprano  and  tenor  take 


Leipzig  245 

up  the  choral  argument,  developing  it  into  exuberant 
flow  of  ornamental  passages,  and  the  whole  is  rounded 
off  by  the  simple  concrete  presentation  of  the  chorale 
in  four-part  chorus.  The  persistence  of  the  chorale 
throughout,  in  constantly  changing  aspects,  implies  the 
concentration  of  the  mind  upon  the  central  idea  which 
is  embodied  in  the  tune,  and  its  presentation  as  the 
theme,  at  the  conclusion,  welds  the  whole  into  a  decisive 
conclusiveness.  The  manner  in  which  this  concentra- 
tion upon  one  basis  is  carried  out  is  the  more  notice- 
able inasmuch  as  the  cantata  was  written  for  the 
second  day  of  Easter — a  day  of  supreme  gladness  to 
the  Christian — and  it  is  all  in  a  minor  mode.  It  re- 
calls the  noble  sentence  suggested  as  a  motto  for  the 
Leipzig  Conservatorium  by  Mendelssohn,  "  Res  severa 
verum  gaudium, "  and  presents  the  exultation  of  the 
Christian  in  a  far  deeper  sense  than  any  brilliant 
musical  equivalent  of  the  mere  exuberance  of  super- 
ficial joy  could  do.  It  may  be  permissible  to  remark 
parenthetically  that  Bach  was  fond  of  introducing 
suggestions  of  sorrow  in  the  midst  of  joy — as  for 
instance  the  quotation  of  the  chorale  0  Haupt  voll 
Blut  und  Wunden,  at  the  outset  of  the  Christmas 
Oratorio. 

Among  noteworthy  cantatas  which  are  surmised 
to  have  followed  soon  after  the  "Johannes-Passion" 
is  Erwilnschtes  Freudenlicht,  which  is  speculatively 
assigned  to  the  second  day  of  Whitsuntide,  1724.  It 
is  the  very  strongest  possible  contrast  to  Christ  lag 
in  Todeshanden,  for  it  is  in  quite  a  singularly  cheerful 
vein,  in  many  respects  even  secular  in  style.  The 
recitative  with  which  it  begins  affords  one  of  the  most 
singular  examples  of  Bach's  use  of  realistic  suggestion. 


2  46  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

The  word  "Freudenlicht"  evidently  caught  his  im- 
aginative attention  and  he  gives  to  the  two  flutes  in  the 
accompaniment  a  quick  Httle  figure  which  suggests  the 
recurrent  leaping  of  a  little  flame,  and  is  reiterated  in 
various  positions  throughout  the  whole  of  the  first 
movement.  The  duet  aria  which  follows  for  soprano 
and  alto  is  also  characteristic,  being  genially  and  cheer- 
fully tuneful,  but  carried  out  to  such  truly  portentous 
length  by  a  fully  marked  da  capo  that  the  world  in 
general  is  almost  precluded  from  being  aware  of  its 
charms.  It  is  a  significant  instance  of  Bach's  curious 
attitude  in  such  matters.  The  fascination  of  working 
out  the  inspirations  of  artistic  development  seems  at 
times  to  have  been  so  strong  with  him  that  it  obliter- 
ated all  practicc^l  considerations  of  expediency,  and, 
like  Schubert,  he  put  an  almost  prohibitive  penalty 
on  many  lovely  inventions  by  ignoring  the  average 
capacity  of  human  attention.  An  analogous  situa- 
tion is  presented  in  the  last  movement  of  this  can- 
tata, which,  oddly  enough  for  a  sacred  work,  is  in 
gavotte  rhythm,  and  on  the  lines  of  a  gavotte 
with  an  alternative  quasi-trio.  The  tune  of  the 
first  gavotte  is  quite  simply  harmonised  and  very 
attractive,  and  carried  out  within  the  limitations  of 
a  dance  movement.  The  alternative  portion  corre- 
sponds to  a  trio;  and,  no  doubt,  Bach  had  the 
conception  of  a  trio  predominant  in  his  mind,  for 
through  the  whole  of  it  the  altos  and  tenors  are 
silent,  and  the  trebles  and  basses  make  a  long 
winding  trio  with  the  instrumental  bass,  which  runs 
about  after  Bach's  familiar  manner  on  equal  terms 
with  the  voice.  Bach  afterwards  introduced  the  first 
gavotte  into  a  secular  cantata,  "Lasst  uns  sorgen," 


Leipzig  247 

put  together  ^nd  composed  for  a  royal  birthday  in 
1733,  and  in  that  case  dispensed  with  the  singular 
second  gavotte. 

The  cantata  Leichtgesinnite  Flatter geister  may  be 
fitly  coupled  with  the  preceding,  as  it  is  also  in  pe- 
culiarly light  vein,  and  has  even  engendered  the  sus- 
picion that  it  is  a  transformation  of  a  secular  work 
which  has  disappeared.  It  begins  with  solos  and  ends 
with  a  lively  chorus  in  aria  form. 

Among  the  cantatas  which  are  referred  to  the 
year  1724  several  are  specially  notable.  Erschallet 
ihr  Lieder  was  probably  composed  soon  after  Easter. 
It  has  a  characteristically  ornate  and  animated  chorus 
on  a  very  large  scale  in  da  capo  form  to  begin  with, 
a  bass  solo  accompanied  by  three  trumpets  and 
drums,  a  tenor  solo  0  Seelen-Paradies !  and  a  fme 
duet  for  soprano  and  alto,  which  is  notable  as  com- 
bining a  "ground  bass"  with  an  ornate  version  of  the 
chorale  Koynni,  heiliger  Geist  in  the  accompaniment. 

Of  very  high  importance  and  quality  is  the  cantata 
Weinen,  Klagen,  Sorgen,  Zagen.  Its  greatest  interest 
lies  in  the  depth  of  tragic  sorrow  which  is  expressed 
in  the  first  part  of  the  first  chorus,  which  Bach 
afterwards  transformed  with  truly  marvellous  insight 
into  the  "Crucifixus"  in  the  B  minor  Mass.  It  is 
rather  strange  that  in  the  cantata  this  most  affecting 
music  constitutes  only  a  portion  of  a  chorus  in  aria 
form,  the  second  or  middle  portion  of  which  is  by  no 
means  so  impressive  as  the  first.  And  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted also  that  the  deep  feeling  expressed  in  the  first 
part  makes  it  unsuitable  to  be  given  again  da  capo. 
The  cantata  has  a  very  beautiful  introductory  sinfonia, 
and  several  interesting  arias.      There  are  good  reasons 


2  48  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

for  believing   that  some  of  the  music    was   written 
earlier,  probably  at  Weimar. 

In  the  strongest  contrast  stands  the  imposing  cantata, 
Lohe   den  Herrn,  meine  Seek,  which  Spitta  surmises, 
with  likelihood,  to  have  been  written  for  some  great 
municipal  function.     Its  special  feature  is  the  opening 
chorus,  which  is  on  an  immense  scale,  and  illustrates  in 
a  high  degree  the  scope  and  certainty  of  handling  to 
which  Bach  had  by  this  time  attained.     It  sets  out  with 
a  typically  jubilant  passage  of  trumpets,  the  rest  of  the 
instruments  joining  in  by  degrees  to  the  full  measure 
of  rich  polyphony.    The  voices  enter  with  rushing  pas- 
sages of  semiquavers,  alternating  with  shouts  of  em- 
phatic chords  to  the  words  "Lobe  den  HeiTn,"  giving  a 
superb  effect  of  exultant  energy.     A  miost  happy  con- 
trast is  obtained  by  the  much  quieter  character  of  the 
subject  of  the  central  episode  which  is  afterwards  inter- 
woven with  delightful  effect  with  the   subject   of  the 
praise.    There  are  two  fme  solos  in  the  cantata  for  alto 
and  bass.  Of  another  Cantata  of  the  same  name  nothing 
is  known  except  that  it  was  written  for  New  Year's  Day. 
The  first  Chorus  is  most  brilliant,  and  has  important 
parts  for  three  horns,  which  are  also  conspicuous  in  a 
fine  Bass  Aria.    The  Tenor  Solo  has  a  Chorale  in  the 
accompaniment,  and  an  elaborate  Bassoon  obligato. 

Though  it  is  not  very  easy  to  fix  the  exact  dates  of 
many  cantatas  which  were  written  between  the  pro- 
duction of  the  "Magnificat "and  thatof  the  "Matthaus- 
Passion,"  it  is  safe  to  group  a  large  number  of  them 
as  representing  that  period;  and  it  is  fortunate  that 
it  is  so,  as  their  character  throws  so  much  light  on 
Bach's  personal  development.  The  features  which  re- 
veal themselves  are  the  expansion  and  prominence  of 


Leipzig  249 

the  first  chorus  and  the  more  frequent  adoption  of 
the  aria  form  not  only  for  solo  movements  but  also  for 
choruses.  As  illustrating  this  phase,  Es  erhib  sich  ein 
Streit  will  be  copiously  suggestive.  The  cantata  was 
written  for  St.  Michael's  day,  and  refers  to  the 
strife  in  heaven  between  the  hosts  of  the  arch- 
angel and  Satan  and  his  forces.  The  chorus  springs 
without  preliminary  into  the  fugue,  which  is  made  to 
represent  the  sense  of  huge  turmoil,  with  rolling  pas- 
sages of  semiquavers  and  an  overwhelming  sense  of 
rhythmic  accent.  The  presentation  of  the  idea  is 
superb,  but  it  affords  one  of  the  most  unfortunate 
examples  of  Bach's  indiscriminate  use  of  the  da  capo, 
for  the  middle  portion  of  the  chorus  necessarily  carries 
the  suggestion  of  the  action  forward,  and  the  da  capo 
takes  the  whole  thing  back  to  the  beginning  and  goes 
over  the  ground  again  in  the  portion  of  the  fugue 
describing  the  fight.  The  solo  portions  of  the  cantata 
are  rather  overwhelmed  by  the  volume  of  the  first 
chorus. 

An  exceptionally  fine  cantata  which  was  written 
about  the  same  time  as  the  last  is  Alles  nur  nach  Gottes 
IVillen.  In  this,  again,  there  is  a  most  vivacious  first 
chorus,  with  semiquaver  runs  and  insistent  emphasis 
on  the  world  "alles"  to  which  parallels  are  presented 
in  the  opening  phrases  of  the  great  motet,  Singet  dem 
Herrn.  The  movement  is  in  a  free  kind  of  aria  form, 
in  which  the  middle  section  is  most  admiirably  devised 
for  contrast.  The  arioso  for  alto,  Herr  so  du  willt  is  one 
of  Bach's  most  exquisite  and  subtle  pieces  of  supreme 
simplicity.  Of  almost  equal  beauty  is  the  aria  for 
soprano,  Mein  Jesus  will  es  ihun,  the  close  of  which 
is  quite   extraordinarily  human.    .It  brings  to  mind 


2;0 


Johann  Sebastian  Bach 


the  strange  personal  fascination  the  name  "Jesus" 
had  for  Bach,  and  also  (in  a  new  aspect)  the  fact 
that  Bach  made  such  a  specialty  of  fme  endings ! 

The  cantata  Erforsche  mich,  again,  has  a  very 
imposing  first  chorus  in  a  solid  style,  with  a  con- 
spicuous horn  obligato.  It  has  only  two  solo  move- 
ments, of  which  the  second  (a  duet  for  tenor  and 
bass)  offers  an  instance  of  Bach's  favourite  use  of 
massed  violins  in  accompaniment,  with  a  delightfully 
characteristic  tune. 

Bringet  dem  Herrn  has  a  big  free  chorus  at  the 
beginning  with  a  trumpet  obligato.  The  voice  parts 
are  at  first  massed  harmonically  with  a  tuneful  upper 
part,  and  the  middle  part  of  the  chorus  is  fugal.  So 
the  order  of  proceedings  is  just  the  reverse  of  that  in 
Alles  nur  nach  Gottes  JVillen.  The  cantata  contains 
a  very  tuneful  alto  solo. 

The  general  scheme  of  Siehe  {u  is  similar,  but 
it  differs  from  the  above  mentioned  cantatas  in  respect 
of  the  style  of  the  first  chorus,  which  is  in  the  very 
plainest  and  severest  counterpoint  without  any  in- 
dependent accompaniment  except  the  bass  line  of  the 
continuo,  to  which  Bach  has  not  even  added  figures. 

These  cantatas,  together  with  those  of  the  pre- 
Magnificat  time,  suggest  that  Bach,  under  stress  of  cir- 
cumstances, had  become  rather  over-systematic.  The 
actual  quality  of  the  artistic  work  is  alm.ost  always 
splendid,  but  there  seems  for  a  time  to  be  less  of  the 
romantic  element.  No  doubt  the  Leipzig  congregations 
were  not  favourable  to  the  higher  imaginative  qualities, 
and  preferred  good  strong  workmanship  and  well 
planned  arias  with  nice  tunes  to  them.  But  there  was 
a  strong  reaction  coming  on   Bach's  side,  of  which 


Leipzig  25  T 

the  first  chorus  of  IVeinen,  Klagen  and  the  group 
of  songs  in  Alles  nur  were  a  premonition.  An 
example  which  shows  how  easily  things  might  take 
another  turn  is  Ihr  Menschen,  rilhmet  Gottes  Liehe. 
It  is  really  a  solo  cantata,  and  contains  admirable  solo 
music,  especially  the  first  tenor  aria  in  -y-  time;  but  the 
point  that  is  peculiar  is  the  final  movement.  It  is 
almost  invariably  the  case  that  cantatas  for  solo  voices 
end  with  the  plain  four-part  chorale  in  which  the  con- 
gregation could  join.  But  in  this  case  the  movement 
is  worked  up  to  the  extent  of  being  quite  an  impor- 
tant feature,  having  an  elaborate  accompaniment  in 
which  a  very  gracious  and  flowing  semiquaver  figure 
is  constantly  presented.  It  is,  however,  also  one  of 
the  odd  cases  in  which  Bach  has  indicated  that  the 
oboes  are  to  double  the  violins  in  this  charming 
adornment  of  the  chorale.  A  moment's  considera- 
tion would  show  that  the  introduction  of  these  in- 
struments would  ruin  the  effect.  Probably  Bach 
was  so  accustomed  to  hearing  his  beautiful  phrases 
mangled  by  the  players  that  he  did  not  mind. 

The  fact  that  the  poetic  fire  still  burned  as  steadily 
as  ever  is  shown  by  the  character  of  several  cantatas  of 
probably  slightly  later  date  than  those  just  mentioned. 
An  excellent  illustration  is  the  singularly  genial  cantata, 
Du  Hirte  Israel.  It  is  evident  that  the  word  which 
influenced  Bach  in  composing  was  "Hirte,"  and  that 
his  mind  was  projected  by  it  into  a  pastoral  mood. 
The  quiet,  tranquil  style  is  maintained  throughout, 
with  many  subtle  suggestions  of  the  shepherd's  en- 
vironment, such  as  the  prevalence  of  hautboy  tone, 
and  of  musical  figures  suggesting  the  shepherd's  pipe 
and  a  general  air  of  innocent  rusticity.     Even  the  first 


2^2 


Johann  Sebastian  Bach 


chorus  breathes  an  air  of  peace,  and  both  the  solo  arias 
are  of  great  beauty,  especially  the  second,  Begluckte 
Heerde,  for  bass  voice;  and  the  mood  is  even  main- 
tained'in  the  final  chorale  Der  Herr  ist  mein  getreuer 

Hirt. 

In    marked    contrast    stands    the   earliest   of   the 
two  cantatas,  beginning  with  the  words  0  Ewigkeii, 
Dn  Do7inerwort,  which   belongs   to   this  period.     The 
"thunder  word,"  Eternity,  was  well  calculated  to  stir 
Bach's  imagination,  but  he  makes  no  attempt  at  his- 
trionic effect;  the  impression  is  made  by  the  manner  in 
which  the  chorale  is  sung  by  the  voices  in  the  first 
chorus,  in  measured  steadfast  motion,  contrasting  with 
the  rhythmic  energy  of  the  phrases  in  the  orchestra. 
Here  again,  as  in  Nun  komnt,  der  Heiden   Heiland 
and  the   Rathswahl   cantata,   Preise,  Jerusalem,  den 
Herrn,    Bach  casts   the   chorus   in   the   form  of  the 
"French   Overture,"  and    the  effect  of   the  slow  in- 
troductory movement  is  admirable  in  relation  to  the 
subject.     Each    movement     that    succeeds    presents 
fresh  attitudes  of  contemplation  of  the  overwhelming 
idea,  the  first   half  of  the  cantata  ending  with  the 
chorale  associated  with  the  words  0  Ewigkeii.     The 
second  half  of  the  cantata  begins  appropriately  with 
a   powerful    bass  solo,   IVacht  auj,   with    a   brilliant 
trumpet  accompaniment.    To  this  succeeds  a  duet  for 
alto  and  tenor,  and  the  whole  concludes  with  a  repeti- 
tion of  the  chorale  of  the  first  half. 

The  cantata  Herr,  wie  Du  willt  is  a  very  remark- 
able example  of  the  depth  of  insight  which  is  so  often 
shown  in  Bach's  musical  interpretation  of  words.  If 
superficially  interpreted,  these  particular  words  may 
be   seen  to  be  beset  with  pitfalls.    They  do  indeed 


Leipzig  253 

actually  suggest  an  incomplete  submission  to  the 
Divine  will,  as  the  soul  is  made  to  express  itself 
in  the  words  ''Ach!  aber  ach!  wie  viel  lasst  mich  dein 
Wille  leiden/'  etc.  The  danger  obviously  is  to  accentu- 
ate the  harshness  of  ''the  Lord's  will"  in  order  to 
enhance  the  credit  of  submission.  In  the  text  each 
pair  of  lines  of  the  hymn  relating  to  the  divine  will  is 
followed  by  a  passage  in  which  the  soul,  in  a  sort  of 
aside,  expresses  its  real  opinion.  Therefore,  if  the 
words  were  quite  frankly  interpreted  in  musical  terms, 
they  would  express  but  a  formal  and  superficial  attitude 
of  submission.  Bach  had,  in  a  sense,  to  accept  the 
situation  w^hich  was  provided  for  him,  and  to  write  in 
a  minor  mode  rather  than  the  major  which  would  have 
expressed  more  frankly  the  loyal  and  unstinted  sub- 
mission to  the  will  of  the  Supreme  Being  whose  wisdom 
passes  all  understanding.  But  all  the  same  he  adopts 
on  the  whole  a  cheerful  vein.  What  may  be  called  the 
energising  figures,  which  at  the  outset  are  given  to  the 
hautboys  and  unify  the  whole  movement  by  their 
persistence,  are  really  almost  gay  in  their  innocent  and 
modest  simplicity.  To  suggest  the  insignificance  of 
the  human  creature  in  relation  to  the  Divine  will  the 
music  is  at  first  confined  to  the  highest  part  of  the 
scale,  the  bass  being  supplied  by  violins  and  violas 
pizzicato.  But  this  procedure  is  constantly  interrupted 
by  the  recurrence  of  the  rhythmic  group  of  notes  which 
represents  the  words  "  Herr,  wie  Du  willt." 


m 


*   The  Ycices. 


m 


Herr,     wie        du     willt ! 


2  54  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

The  Instrnniental  Introduction. 


i=^^=?=i^ES^ 


,  -A~H a fmmmm^fi^m N N ^^fc — i ^ 

^^s=s=s=r=f-§iniJ-g-=j==iB=M=== 


A- 


^: 


This  figure  (which  might  indeed  be  called  a  "Leit- 
motiv") is  given  at  first  to  the  continuo,  and  now  and 
again  to  the  horn  or  organ  obligato.  The  scheme  then 
works  out  as  follows: — ^The  instruments  having  pre- 
figured the  musical  materials  and  the  mood,  the  chorus 
sing  two  lines  of  the  chorale,  and  the  tenor  voice 
takes  up  the  plaint  of  the  soul  in  recitative,  while  the 
instrumental  forces  still  keep  the  idea  of  the  Divine 
will  present  in  the  mind,  by  reiterating  the  musical 
formula  of  the  "  Herr,  wie  Du  willt,"  coupled  with  the 
innocent  little  hautboy  figure.  This  procedure  is 
followed  throughout,  the  full  choir  alternating  lines 
of  the  submissive  hymn  in  terms  of  the  chorale,  and 
single  parts  making  commentaries  on  the  Divine  will 
in  recitative,  and  it  is  actually  not  till  the  end  of  the 
chorus  that  the  voices  take  up  the  musical  formula  of 
the  "  Herr,  wie  Du  willt,"  which  is  then  repeated  three 


Leipzig 


255 


times  as  though  to  emphasise  the  affirmation — but  as 
a  last  touch  of  humanity  the  chorus  actually  leaves  off 
on  a  discord,  subtly  suggesting  that  the  submissive 
attitude  is  still  left   questioning! 


CHOKU,.  ^ 

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Herr,  wie   du     willt ! 

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Herr,  wie    du   M-illt ! 
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But  the  following  tenor  aria  is  in  quite  a  cheerful 
and  contented  vein,  breathing  'Treudigkeit"  and 
"Hoflfnung."  A  bass  recitative  begins  by  suggest- 
ing the  futility  and  blindness  of  our  will,  and  then 
comes  the  supreme  stroke  of  the  whole  scheme,  as 
it  concludes  with  the  words  "Allein  ein  Christ,  in 
Gottes  Geist  gelehrt,  lernt  sich  in  Gottes  Willen  sen- 
ken  und  sagt,"  and  the  aria  following  completes 
the  sentence  with  the  words  "Herr,  so  Du  willt." 
The  suggestion  is  that  even  Christ  Himself  at  the  su- 
preme moment  had  uttered  the  words  of  submission 


256  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

to  God's  will,  "Herr,  so  Du  willt,"  setting  them  at 
once  before  the  devout  worshipper  as  enforced  by 
the  example  of  Jesus  Himself.  The  aria  which  be- 
gins with  these  words  is  given  to  a  bass  and  is 
in  the  style  which  Bach  always  instinctively  adopted 
when  he  was  trying  to  express  Christ's  own  words 
in  musical  terms,  or  make  Him,  so  to  speak,  utter 
them  in  His  own  person.  It  is,  musically,  of  exception- 
ally tender,  touching  beauty,  combining  resignation 
with  inexhaustible  devotion.  When  it  is  over  there  is 
nothing  more  to  be  said,  except  for  the  congregation, 
with  hearts  full  of  the  lesson  the  music  has  enforced, 
to  sing  the  fmal  chorale,  which,  as  usual,  is  set,  with 
sundry  very  subtle  progressions,  in  a  manner  which  is 
perfectly  in  consonance  with  the  mood  which  the 
cantata  is  calculated  to  induce  in  the  sympathetic 
worshipper. 

One  of  the  few  Cantatas  of  which  the  date  is 
certainly  identifiable  is  Ich  lasse  dich  nicht,  which 
was  performed  in  February,  1727,  at  a  funeral  cere- 
mony. It  begins  with  a  duet  for  Tenor  and  Bass 
with  an  intricate  accompaniment  mainly  woven  of 
a  tender  phrase  which  occurs  frequently  in  the 
voice  parts.  It  contains  also  two  fme  Arioso  passages 
for  Bass. 

In  the  remaining  cantatas  which  can  generally  be 
referred  to  the  years  before  1729  the  like  readiness  to 
grasp  every  musical  opportunity  is  seen,  and  the 
manner  in  which  the  opportunities  are  used  is  generally 
characteristic  of  the  man.  In  the  fme  cantata  Halt' 
im  Gedachiniss  Jesum  Christ,  we  fmd  an  interesting 
example  of  a  dialogue  between  Christ  and  the  soul, 
the  words  of  Christ  being  given  to  the  bass  voice,  as 


Leipzig  257 

usual,  and  the  words  of  the  soul  to  the  chorus.  There 
is  no  verbal  indication  that  the  solo  part  represents 
the  personal  Christ,  except  that  the  words  "  Friede  sei 
mit  euch"  are  His,  and  that  the  mood  and  style  of  the 
music  are  again  exactly  consonant  with  the  singularly 
characteristic  manner  Bach  always  adopted  when  set- 
ting the  words  of  Christ ;  as  in  the  settings  of  the  Passion 
and  in  the  cantata  previously  alluded  to.  In  this 
case  the  manner  in  which  Bach  thought  out  the  musical 
scheme  is  notable. 

It  may  well  be  perceived  that  it^  struck  him  that 
there  would  be  no  ostensible  point  in  Jesus'  saying 
"Peace  be  with  you"  unless  the  state  of  mind  of  the 
persons  to  whom  the  remark  is  addressed  was  such  as 
to  make  peace  desirable.  In  other  words,  it  would  be 
superfluous  to  offer  peace  to  those  who  already  enjoy 
its  blessings.  We  are  therefore  presented  with  the 
superficially  illogical  situation  of  an  extremely  serious, 
dignified,  and  tender  aria,  conjoined  to  and  intro- 
duced by  a  very  agitated,  bustling,  uneasy  introduc- 
tion. This  introduction  has  no  words;  it  just  stands 
there  in  its  unmistakable  agitation,  and  then  suddenly 
a  change  is  made  to  a  flowing  J  time,  and  the  words  of 
Christ  are  heard.  It  is  a  far-reaching  and  suggestive 
touch.  Its  very  superficial  inaptness  makes  the  mind 
pause  to  ask  what  such  abstractlyincompatible  proceed- 
ings can  mean.  And  the  arrest  of  the  attention  gives  the 
situation,  when  it  is  grasped,  a  greater  hold  on  the  mind ; 
for  when  the  agitated  exclamations  of  those  to  whom 
Jesus  addresses  the  comforting  words  are  expressed  in 
the  terms  of  the  music  of  the  superficially  incompatible 
introduction,  the  glimmering  inferential  explanation 
which  occurred  to  the  mind  i-s  vindicated.     The  case 

17 


8  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 


might  indeed  be  taken  as  a  test  one  in  discussing  the 
relations  of  absolute  form  and  relative  form;  of  the 
types  of  the  preordained  classical  sonata  and  the  type 
of  interpretative  music.  The  musical  phenomena  of 
mundane  agitation  and  divine  calm  as  here  juxtaposed 
would,  on  purely  abstract  grounds,  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  musical  classicist,  be  almost  preposterous. 
But  the  instant  the  internal  cue  is  seized,  the  psycho- 
logical interpretation  justifies  the  method  of  organisa- 
tion, for  peace  contrasted  with  agitation  in  such  a  sense 
seems  to  be  fully  as  justifiable  a  basis  of  musical  design 
as  the  familiar  device  of  a  subject  in  the  tonic  and  a 
contrasting  subject  in  the  dominant  key! 

Among  personal  peculiarities  which  cannot  fail  to 
catch  the  mental  eye  in  this  cantata  are  the  sharp  shouts 
of  "halt,  halt,"  which  punctuate  the  polyphonic  tex- 
ture of  the  initial  chorus  and  the  characteristic  device 
of  interpreting  the  word  here  and  there  by  a  long 
holding  note.  Nimm,  was  dein  ist,  begins  with  an 
austere  Choral  Fugue  unaccompanied,  which  is  very 
suggestive  of  the  words.  The  Arias  for  Alto  and 
Soprano  respectively  are  delightfully  melodious.  The 
Cantata  contains  two  different  Chorales. 

The  cantata  Time  Rechnung  is  perhaps  most 
notable  as  illustrating  the  manner  in  which  Bach  not 
infrequently  found  himself  at  the  mercy  of  the  words 
he  had  to  set.  An  aria  for  tenor  actually  begins  with 
the  words  "Capital  und  Interessen." 

Hen,  gehe  nicht  ins  Gericht  is  noticeable  for  the 
first  chorus,  in  which  ejaculatory  utterance  of  the 
beseeching  sentence  contrasts  effectively  and  humanly 
with  the  solemn  and  dignified  motion  of  the  instru- 
mental parts;  suggesting  the  anxious  disquiet  of  the 


Leipzig      '  259 

soul  before  the  steadfast  impassivity  of  the  Divine 
Judge.  The  aria  for  soprano,  IVie  liitern  und  wanken, 
is  also  noticeable,  as  the  treatment  of  the  accompani- 
ment is  unlike  Bach's  usual  polyphonic  methods  and 
much  more  harmionic,  thereby  throwing  the  pathetic 
phrases  of  the  hautboy  and  the  voice  into  relief.  The 
fmal  chorale,  Nun,  ich  weiss,  is  also  in  an  unusual 
vein  and  very  interesting. 

The  words  of  the  cantata  Schauet  doch  und  sehet 
evidently  moved  the  composer  deeply,  for  it  is  a  work 
of  even  exceptional  beauty  and  pathos.  The  first 
chorus  is  interesting  not  only  intrinsically,  but  also  on 
account  of  a  portion  of  it  having  been  transformed  with 
almost  incredible  aptness  into  the  chorus  Qui  tollis 
in  the  B  minor  Mass.  In  this  cantata  it  appears  in 
much  larger  proportions,  as  it  has  a  very  beautiful 
orchestral  introduction,  which  Bach  omitted  in  the 
Mass,  though  it  is  mainly  based  on  the  figures  of  ac- 
companiment which  form  such  an  attractive  feature 
in  the  portion  transferred  thereto;  here  also  it  has  a 
long  and  powerfully  expressive  second  part,  a  move- 
ment almost  wrathful  in  strength  and  severity  of 
feeling.  The  recitative  which  follows,  for  tenor,  is  of 
very  great  beauty,  with  a  characteristic  accompaniment 
for  flutes.  A  powerful  aria  follows  for  bass  with  trum- 
pets, in  which  the  treatment  of  the  accompaniment 
seems  to  break  unusual  ground  for  the  composer, 
though  he  makes  it  emphatically  his  own.  A  short 
recitative  for  alto  is  followed  by  an  aria  of  exceptional 
beauty  for  the  same  voice  to  the  words  Doch  Jesus 
will,  which  were  sure  to  inspire  the  composer.  The 
accompaniment  gives  it  a  peculiarly  unique  character 
as  it  is  restricted  to  two  flutes  and  oboe  da  caccia, 


26o  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

so  exquisitely  woven  round  the  voice  that  the  ensemble 
makes  a  kind  of  delicate  quartet.  Even  the  fmal 
chorale  is  rather  out  of  the  ordinary  scheme,  as  it  is 
fully  accompanied  throughout,  and  interspersed  with 
beautiful  commentative  orchestral  episodes  between 
the  lines. 

A  point  which  is  very  characteristic  of  the  composer 
in  Du  sollst  Gott  is  that  the  words  of  the  chorus 
being  one  of  the  commandments,  the  trumpet  plays 
the  chorale  Dies  sind  die  heiligen  {ehi  Gehot  on  and 
off  through  the  whole  movement  answered  by  the  Basses 
of  the  accompaniment  in  augmentation.  It  is  not,  as 
it  might  seem,  a  mere  witticism.  It  suggests  that  the 
movement  is  enveloped  by  the  Chorale  representing, 
symbolically,  the  Decalogue.  The  first  Chorus  of  Ein 
jeste  Burg  contains  a  similar  device. 

The  scheme  of  the  first  chorus  of  Liehsier  Gott,  wann 
werd'  ich  sterben  is  very  interesting,  with  novel  points 
of  orchestration.  Slow  pizzicato  notes  for  strings  and 
a  singular  feature  of  rapidly  repeated  notes  for  the 
flutes  probably  typify  the  shuddering  at  the  thought 
of  death.  The  bass  solo,  Doch  weichet,  ihr,  has  a  very 
fine  melodic  phrase,  and  the  final  chorale,  Herrscher 
iiher  Tod  iind  Leben,  though  quite  unelaborated,  is 
very  strikingly  put,  in  consonance  with  the  fine  sym- 
bolism of  the  words. 

The  conspicuous  feature  of  Gottlob  I  nun  gelt  das 
Jahr  {u  Elide  is  a  chorus  of  vast  extent  "  quasi  a  cap- 
pella" — pure  unornate  choral  work — which  comes  in 
the  m.iddle  of  the  cantata,  the  voices  being  doubled 
in  archaic  manner  by  cornet,  trombones,  hautboys,  and 
strings.  Among  Bach's  choral  works  this  occupies  a 
niche  almost  by  itself.     But  when  it  is  performed  its 


Leipzig 


261 


eflfect  would  be  greatly  enhanced  by  leaving  out  the 
doubling  instruments,  which  Bach  had  the  habit  of 
indicating  without  much  consideration. 

The  cantata  Herr  Gott,  dich  lohen  wir,  which  was 
probably  produced  early  in  1729,  is  noticeable  as 
rather  a  curiosity.  The  first  chorus  is  attractively  ob- 
scure in  tonality,  owing  to  the  archaic  character  of  the 
chorale  tune,  which  is  given  to  the  trebles  in  long  notes, 
the  rest  of  the  choir  having  bustling  passages  of  free 
counterpoint  after  the  manner  of  an  organ  chorale- 
fantasia.  It  is  difficult  to  say  whether  it  begins  in  A 
minor  or  E,  and  the  movement,  which  is  quite  short, 
ends  on  G  as  the  dominant  of  C.  There  is  a  second 
chorus  in  the  latter  key,  combined  with  a  bass  solo,  in 
Bach's  very  liveliest  vein — so  festive  and  jovial,  in- 
deed, that  it  seems  scarcely  within  the  range  of  re- 
ligious music.  The  subject  of  the  chorus  is  one  of 
Bach's  most  unblushing  examples  of  realistic  sugges- 
tion, all  the  choir  partaking  in  a  figure  which  is  rather 
like  a  Tyrolese  jodel,  in  consonance  with  the  words 
"Lasst  uns  jauchzen." 


i  i 


This  merriment  is  maintained  by  voices  and  instru- 
ments throughout,  and  the  bass  solo  which  alternates 


262  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

its  strains  with  passages  of  chorus  seems  to  be  urg- 
ing them  to  ever-increasing  joyousness,  which  is 
achieved  with  quite  extraordinary  brilHancy  in  the 
culminating  conclusion  of  the  chorus.  A  note  of 
seriousness  is  touched  in  the  alto  recitative,  Ach 
ireiier  Hort,  and  a  tenor  solo  which  follows  is  so 
flowing  and  sweet  that  it  might  be  referred  to  the 
Mein  gldiibiges  Her^e  class,  from  the  best  known 
example  of  that  familiar  and  delightful  type.  Indeed, 
there  is  a  passage  in  it  which  anticipates  that  popular 
aria. 

One  special  work  stands  out  with  some  little  promin- 
ence in  the  period  between  the  St.  John  Passion  and  the 
St.  Matthew  Passion,  about  the  date  of  which  there  is 
no  doubt.  Queen  Christina  Eberhardine,  wife  of  the 
King  of  Poland  who  was  also  Lord  Paramount  of  Sax- 
ony, was  regarded  with  affectionate  admiration  by  the 
people  of  Leipzig  because,  when  her  husband  had  gone 
over  to  the  Church  of  Rome  in  order  to  qualify  for  the 
elective  throne  of  Poland,  she  had  remained  faithful 
to  Lutheranism.  She  died  in  1727,  and  the  solemn 
funeral  ceremony  took  place  on  October  17th,  for  which 
occasion  Bach  wrote  a  "Trauer  Ode."  It  is  on  much 
the  same  lines  as  a  church  cantata,  though  a  little  longer 
than  the  average,  and  divided  into  two  portions,  for  a 
funeral  oration  to  be  delivered  in  the  middle,  in  the 
same  way  as  a  sermon  was  often  delivered  in  the 
middle  of  cantatas  on  special  occasions.  It  differs 
from  the  cantatas  mainly  in  style.  The  first  chorus  is 
quite  unlike  the  first  choruses  of  the  cantatas,  and 
most  admirably  conceived  for  its  occasion  in  a  nobly 
broad  and  massive  style,  with  a  sense  of  dignified  sad- 
ness, the  treatment  of  the  voices  being  frequently  ejacu- 


Leipzig  263 

latory,  but  without  any  fugal  passages.  There  are 
two  more  choruses  in  the  body  of  the  work,  one  of 
them  fugal  and  another  melodious  and  homophonic. 
The  solos,  which  are  very  fine,  are  also  in  a  sense 
massive,  and  more  akin  to  the  solos  in  the  "  Passion  " 
than  to  those  in  the  cantatas.  1  It  is  said  that  several 
of  the  movements  were  embodied  in  the  St.  Mark 
Passion,  which  has  been  lost.  A  curious  interest  also 
attaches  to  the  manuscript,  as  it  is  written  on  paper 
with  a  special  water-mark,  which  also  appears  in  the 
paper  that  Bach  used  for  over  forty  cantatas,  and  by 
this  means  the  approximate  date  of  the  cantatas  is 
supplied. 

The  cantatas  written  by  Bach  after  his  arrival  at 
Leipzig,  in  the  years  preceding  1729,  represent  a  special 
phase  in  his  development.  The  period  is  as  well  de- 
fined in  its  character,  and  its  function  in  completing 
Bach's  personality,  as  the  other  periods  of  his  life.  It 
was  the  period  in  which  he  was  working  most  con- 
sciously under  the  influence  of  an  audience,  and  was 
accommodating  himself,  as  far  as  his  nature  allowed, 
to  the  necessity  of  addressing  people  who  had  some- 
what lost  touch  with  the  primitive  poetry  of  religion, 
and  developed  more  aptitude  for  taking  pleasure  in 
purely  artistic  skill.  It  was  the  period  in  w^hich  Bach 
was  aiming  at  being  practical.     But,  in  spite  of  pres- 

lA  detail  which  is  interesting  and  significant  is  that  in  the 
short  recitative  Der  Glocken  bebendes  Geton  reiterated  notes 
for  the  flutes  with  pizzicati  strings  and  Gambas  and  Lutes 
serve  to  suggest  bells.  Parallel  effects  occur  in  Komni  du 
susse  Todesstimde  and  Herr  Jesu  Christ  Wahr'r  Mensch  und 
Gott;  but  this  is  far  the  most  elaborate  and  interesting  ex- 
ample   of    such    devices. 


264  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

sure  of  uork  and  the  necessity  of  addressing  an  un- 
sympathetic audience,  the  fervent  poetry  of  his  nature 
was  not  affected.  Occasional  cantatas,  such  as  Schauet 
doch  und  sehet,  and  Herr  wie  Du  willt,  and  Weinen, 
Klagen,  show  the  full  richness  of  Teutonic  devotion- 
alism  in  the  midst  of  more  cosmopolitan  types;  and 
it  is  shortly  to  be  seen  that  his  nature  had  lost  none 
of  its  freshness,  its  poetic  imaginativeness,  or  its  peren- 
nially youthful  fervour  through  the  stress  of  these 
years.  For  when  the  constant  labour  of  producing 
cantatas  is  brought  to  a  pause,  the  work  which  presents 
itself,  and  which  no  doubt  was  the  cause  of  the  ces- 
sation of  the  outpouring,  is  the  richest  in  human  feeling, 
the  most  copious  in  all  high  qualities  of  art,  of  all  his 
splendid  achievements. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  MATTHAUS-PASSION 

The  records  of  the  circumstances  and  conditions  of 
composition  which  led  to  the  achievement  of  the  great 
"Passion  according  to  St.  Matthew,"  which  is  the 
richest  and  noblest  example  of  devotional  music  in 
existence,  are  all  as  utterly  blank  as  the  other  records 
of  Bach's  life.  The  work  happily  exists  in  all  its 
lovable  beauty,  but  how  Bach  lived  and  how  he 
worked,  how  those  in  daily  touch  with  him  watched  and 
possibly  participated  in  the  gradual  unfolding  of  its 
inspiring  pages,  is  unknown,  and  all  the  little  incidents 
which  would  throw  light  upon  his  methods  and  hab- 
its of  work  are  utterly  vanished.  Except  for  the 
manuscript  score,  which  bears  the  tokens  of  the  pa- 
tient and  steadfast  labour  of  the  composer,  it  might 
almost  as  well  have  been  a  supernatural  accident. 

Of  the  nature  and  quality  of  this  unique  form  of  art, 
for  which  unfortunately  no  other  name  has  been  dis- 
covered but  *'  Passion  music,"  sufficient  has  been  said. 
Its  source,  growth  and  expansion  have  been  outlined  till 
the  time  of  Bach's  production  of  the  "St.  John  Pas- 
sion." It  has  further  been  indicated  that  after  Bach 
came  to  Leipzig  he  not  infrequently  adopted  a  cosmo- 
politan style  in  his  cantatas,  temporarily  allowing  the 

265 


266  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

romantic  elements  to  be  superseded  by  Italian  modes 
of  treatment.  But  the  process  of  assimilation  of  the 
foreign  methods  did  not  in  the  least  impair  the  funda- 
mental qualities  of  his  disposition,  and  from  the  outset 
of  the  "Matthaus-Passion"  he  shows  that  they  were  in 
no  degree  alTected  by  the  study  and  use  of  Italian 
forms.  Indeed  there  is  no  work,  even  of  the  most 
fervent  romantic  style  of  his  youth,  which  breathes 
more  consistently  the  romantic  temperament  of  the 
race  whose  best  qualities  he  represents  so  nobly. 

The  first  chorus,  v/hich  occupies  the  position  of  a 
prologue,  is  on  the  very  grandest  scale,  requiring 
two  orchestras  of  wind  and  strings,  two  choirs  of  four 
voices  apiece,  and  a  separate  treble  part  which  sings 
with  steadfast  gait,  against  the  multitudinous  poly- 
phony of  the  rest,  the  chorale,  0  Lamm  Gottes,  un- 
schiddig.  The  first  words  of  the  chorus,  Kommt  ihr 
Tochter,  heljt  mir  klagen,  suggest  indirectly  to  the  mind 
of  the  worshippers  the  attitude  worthy  of  the  subject. 
The  alternation  of  the  utterances  of  the  two  choruses, 
rising  at  times  to  almost  dramatic  intensity,  and  the 
rich  flow  of  sad  phrases  and  harmonies  punctuated  by 
monosyllabic  interjections,  lay  a  groundwork  of  the 
utmost  dignity  and  solemnity.  Then  the  voice  which 
takes  the  part  of  the  Evangelist  (the  counterpart  of 
Historicus  in  Carissimi's  little  oratorios)  takes  up  the 
story,  plunging  at  once  into  the  midst  of  it  with  the 
words,  "When  Jesus  had  finished  all  these  sayings, 
he  spake  to  His  disciples,"  and  then  follow  the  w^ords 
of  Christ,  "  Ye  know  that  in  two  days  will  be  the  Pass- 
over, when  the  Son  of  Man  will  be  betrayed."  The 
passage  is  given  to  a  bass  solo  accompanied  by  strings 
in  harmony,  as  is  invariably  the  case  where  Christ  is 


The  Matthaus-Passion  267 

made  to  speak  in  His  own  person.  The  story  is  made 
to  pause  for  a  moment  while  the  pathetic  chorale, 
Heriliehster  Jesu,  was  hast  du  verbrochen,  is  sung. 

Then  the  EvangeHst  tells  of  the  meeting  of  the  high 
priests  and  scribes  in  the  palace  of  Caiaphas,  and  their 
plan  to  take  and  kill  Jesus.  There  follows  the  first 
chorus  of  what  was  technically  called  the  *'Turba," 
being  the  words  of  the  assembled  priests,  "Not  on  the 
feast-day,"  in  a  vigorous  and  decisive  vein,  such  as 
characterises  nearly  all  the  choruses  which  belong  to 
the  action  of  the  story,  and  makes  them  stand  out  in 
clear  and  unmistakable  contrast  to  the  reflective  chor- 
uses and  the  chorales.  The  episode  of  the  woman  with 
the  vase  of  precious  ointment  is  fully  dealt  with,  and  is 
followed  by  the  commentatory  recitative  Du  lieber 
Heiland  du,  which  presents  a  characteristic  procedure 
frequently  adopted  by  Bach  in  the  Passions;  as  the 
movement  is  accompanied  throughout  by  a  sad  and 
tender  figure  played  on  two  flutes,  almost  always  either 
in  thirds  or  sixths,  below  which  the  chords,  filled  in  by 
pizzicato  strings  and  "cembalo,"  recur  in  absolutely  strict 
and  regular  slow  beats.  The  movement  is  really  out 
of  the  category  of  recitative;  for,  though  the  melodious 
voice  part  is  free  and  elocutionary,  the  unbroken  per- 
sistence of  the  figure  of  the  flutes  and  the  recurrent 
chords  on  the  strings  establish  a  principle  of  expres- 
sion and  coherence  of  an  invaluable  kind  which  dif- 
ferentiates the  type  both  from  the  purely  informal 
recitative  and  the  aria.  It  is  the  more  serviceable  in 
this  Passion,  as  it  distinguishes  the  quasi-recitative  of 
commentaries  from  the  unaccompanied  recitative  of 
the  Evangelist  who  relates  the  story. 

The  relation  of  the  treacherous  compact  of  Judas  with 


268  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

the  high  priest  is  followed  by  a  very  pathetic  aria, 
BJute  nur,  dn  liehes  Her(  in  full  da  capo  form,  but 
with  no  other  trace  of  Italian  influence.  The  warn- 
ing of  Christ  to  his  disciples,  that  one  of  them  should 
betray  Him,  is  followed  by  a  graphic  little  chorus 
of  the  disciples  asking,  ''Lord,  is  it  I?"  the  voices 
rapidly  alternating  one  with  the  other,  a  scheme  which 
had  been  anticipated  with  the  object  of  suggesting 
actuality  by  Schutz  in  his  Passion.  Closely  following 
upon  this  is  the  solemn  episode  of  the  symbolical 
oiTering  of  the  bread  and  wine,  which  has  that  singularly 
tender  and  solemn  feeling  before  described  as  charac- 
terising the  music  put  into  the  mouth  of  Jesus  by  Bach. 
This  in  its  turn  is  followed  by  the  recitative  Wiewohl 
mein  Heri\\\\\ch.  is  a  counterpart  of  the  quasi-recitative 
Du  lieher  Heiland,  the  accompaniment  this  time  being 
given  to  a  duet  of  plaintive  oboi  d'amore.  The  confi- 
dence in  his  own  courageous  loyalty  expressed  by 
Peter  invites  a  pause  for  reflection,  which  is  afforded 
by  an  appropriate  chorale;  and  thereafter  follow  the 
poignant  episode  of  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane,  and 
the  words  of  Jesus,  "My  soul  is  exceeding  sorrow- 
ful even  unto  death,"  which  naturally  suggest  further 
reflections.  And  these  Bach  most  amply  presents  in 
two  movements  of  extraordinarily  tender  beauty,  in 
both  of  which  his  favourite  device  of  alternating  the 
solo  voice  with  chorus  in  intercommunion  of  sentiment 
is  most  aptly  used.  The  tenor  voice  in  the  first  of 
these  movements  expresses  the  anguish  of  the  thought, 
0  Schmeri,  hier  pttert  das  gequdlte  Her{,  with  accom- 
paniment of  two  flutes  and  two  oboi  da  caccia  and 
organ.  The  choir  answers  with  the  first  phrase  of  a 
soft  unaccompanied  chorale;  then  the  solo  voice  takes 


The  Matthaus-Passion  269 

up  the  plaint  again  and  is  answered  by  the  second  Hne 
of  the  chorale,  and  so  on  throughout.  The  movement 
does  not  come  to  a  definite  end,  but  merely  turns  to 
the  dominant  of  the  coming  key,  C  minor,  and  so 
makes  way  for  a  movement  in  which  the  scheme  of 
alternation  of  solo  voice  and  chorus  is  similar,  but  the 
voice  part  is  of  more  definite  character,  as  befi-ts  its 
designation  as  an  aria.  The  words  make  an  innocent 
attempt  at  comfort,  as  the  solo  voice  utters  "  I  will 
watch  my  Jesus,"  and  the  chorus  answers  referring  to 
his  sleep,  "So  may  our  sins  be  put  to  sleep,"  with 
a  singularly  characteristic  and  innocent  tune.  The 
wide  expansion  of  this  group  of  movements  was  proba- 
bly deliberately  made  with  the  view  of  keeping  the 
mind  occupied  with  this  mournful  episode  of  the 
tragedy  proportionately  to  its  significance. 

The  whole  story  of  the  betrayal  follows  in  detail 
with  many  remarkable  instances  of  emphasis  on  the 
situations;  for  instance,  the  choir  bursts  in  upon  the 
tender  flowing  lament  which  is  given  to  the  soprano 
and  alto,  "So  ist  mein  Jgsus  nun  gefangen,"  with  the 
sharp,  angry  interjections  "  Lasst  ihr,  haltet,  bindet 
nicht,"  which,  as  it  were,  punctuate  the  whole  move- 
ment with  reiterated  protests,  thereby  in  some  measure 
preparing  the  ground  and  the  mind  for  the  tremend- 
ous rush  of  the  chorus,  Sind  Blithe,  sind  Donner  in 
Wolken  verschwunden,  an  example  of  graphic  and 
raging  energy  such  as  had  never  been  heard  before. 
The  strides  of  the  sequences,  the  explosion  of  the  sudden 
chord  of  F  sharp  major  after  the  central  close  in  D,  the 
alternation  of  the  choruses  seeming  to  contend  with 
one  another  in  their  shouts:  ''Erofi"ne  den  feurigen 
Abgrund,  O  Holle,"  (first  Choir)  ''Zertrummre,"  (second 


2  70  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

Choir)  "Verderbe,"  (first  Choir)  "Verschlinge,"  (second 
Choir)  "  Zerschelle,"  seem  to  typify  a  perfect  cata- 
clysm of  nature  at  the  horror  of  the  betrayal  of  the 
sinless  Son  of  God.  Thereafter  follows  in  Bach's 
version  the  relation  of  the  episode  which  ends  with  the 
words  "And  all  the  disciples  forsook  him  and  fled." 

This  is  as  far  as  Bach  takes  the  story  in  the  first  half 
of  the  work,  and  the  commentatory  chorus  which  fol- 
lows and  completes  it  (in  the  existing  version)  is  the 
marvellously  rich  and  expressive  movement  which 
originally  stood  at  the  beginning  of  the  Johannes-Pas- 
sion, 0  Mensch  bezveiii  ciein  Silnde  gross'  (see  p.  238) .  It 
is  practically  a  noble  adaptation  of  the  form  of  organ 
music  known  as  the  " Choral efantasia,"  but  almost 
incredibly  enriched  by  every  known  resource  of  art  to 
intensify  the  expression  and  bring  men's  relation  to 
the  tragedy  home  to  their  m.inds.  The  beauty  and  apt- 
ness of  the  Passion  form  could  hardly  be  more  exquis- 
itely displayed,  but  in  order  to  realise  it,  it  is  necessary 
to  consider  the  innermost  meaning  of  the  situation. 
The  regular  rotation  of  routine  which  is  inevita- 
ble in  ecclesiastical  functions  has  the  tendency  to 
deaden  the  impression  of  what  is  related  in  sacred 
narrative  or  offered  in  the  abasement  of  devotion; 
and  so  it  comes  about  that  such  a  poignant  moment 
in  the  story  might  pass  almost  unnoticed.  The 
disciples,  the  friends,  the  intimates,  the  choicest 
flower  of  those  to  whom  He  had  daily  revealed  the 
treasures  of  His  mind,  those  whose  belief  in  Him  had 
been  so  absolute  and  heart-whole  and  should  be  the 
means  through  whom  His  message  was  to  be  conveyed 
to  mankind,  are  close  at  hand;  but  the  moment  which 
tests  their  loyalty  comes,  their  courage  fails,  and  He, 


The  Matthaus- Passion  271 

sinless  and  betrayed,  has  not  so  much  as  one  friend  left 
to  comfort  Him.  The  contemplation  of  a  situation  so 
utterly  forlorn,  in  which  the  cruelty  of  public  in- 
justice is  accentuated  by  the  refined  torment  of  the 
disloyalty  of  beloved  friends,  suggests  the  condition  of 
stupefaction  in  the  minds  of  those  who  hear  the  story 
with  complete  perception.  The  music,  which  in  this 
chorus  summons  the  mind  to  concentrate  itself  on  the 
poignant  episode,  seems  to  express  the  kind  of  pain 
that  comes  on  the  mind  when  something  happens  which 
transcends  man's  power  to  estimate  and  express.  It 
floats  like  the  subtle  suggestion  of  a  mood  of  sorrow 
filled  with  remembrance.  The  instruments — flutes, 
oboi  d'amore,  strings — discourse  their  tender  phrases  for 
a  while, till,  as  though  human  contemplation  had  arrived 
just  at  the  point  of  utterance,  the  trebles  of  the  chorus 
quietly  begin  the  chorale,  O  Mensch  hewein  dein 
Silnde  gross',  to  which  the  other  voices  respond  by 
taking  up  the  same  words  and  amplifying  the  expres- 
sion of  the  sentiments  with  those  intimate  touches  of 
realistic  suggestion  of  which  Bach  always  availed  him- 
self. The  implication  is,  of  course,  a  figurative  one,  as 
the  men  who  are  exhorted  to  bewail  their  sins  are  not 
the  disciples  who  had  fled.  Their  transgression  is  here 
but  a  type — the  reminder  of  the  universal  inadequacy 
of  mankind, — and  the  devout  address  their  admonition 
to  themselves;  as  much  as  to  say:  "It  was  for  us  that 
this  was  endured,  and  yet  we  are  as  little  steadfast  in 
our  loyalty  as  the  disciples  in  the  time  of  need." 

The  form  of  the  'Xhoralefantasia"  is  especially  apt 
for  the  contemplative  state  of  deep  sorrow.  Each 
phrase  of  the  chorale  is  followed  by  a  short  interval  in 
the  vocal  utterances,  during  which  the  instruments 


272  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

maintain  their  plaintive  discourse.  And  the  effect  is 
essentially  true  of  the  human  state  in  such  conditions. 
It  is  as  much  a  fact  of  experience  as  of  theory  that  short 
sentences  interspersed  with  pauses  have  a  very  powerful 
effect  in  impressive  situations.  As  examples  of  Bach's 
insight  in  the  matter,  reference  may  be  made  to  the 
strangely  fragmentary  chorale  at  the  end  of  the  motet, 
Der  Geist  hilft  tins,  and  the  chorale  at  the  end  of  the 
dialogue  cantata,  0  Ewigkeit.  The  profound  effect 
of  the  sentences  "  Man  that  is  born  of  a  woman,"  etc.,  in 
the  English  burial  service,  may  be  also  recalled  in  this 
connection.  The  effect  in  this  case  was  obviously  not 
Bach's  invention,  but  a  property  of  the  form.  But  the 
manner  in  which  he  manipulated  the  details  shows  how 
deeply  he  was  moved  by  the  words.  They  seem  to 
govern  and  direct  every  progression  and  every  melodic 
phrase.  Type-figures  there  are  no  doubt — as  an  example 
may  be  quoted  the  type 


which  Bach  very  often  used  to  express  a  kind  of 
sympathetic  wail,  as  for  instance  in  the  Farewell 
Capriccio  to  his  brother  (p.  40),  and  the  sonata  in 
B  minor  for  violin  and  clavier,  and  the  fugue  in  F 
sharp  minor  in  the  first  twenty-four  preludes  and 
fugues.  But  the  figure  is  only  one  out  of  many,  and 
is  not  only  subjected  to  many  variations,  but  is,  in- 
deed, itself  a  variation,  which  seems  to  reveal  itself 
as  an  afterthought. 

As  an  example  of  the  extent  to  which  Bach's  mind 
is  alive  to  the  emotional  undercurrent  of  the  words,  the 


The  Matthaus-Passion  273 

treatment  of  the  chorale  phrases  in  this  movement 
may  be  pointed  out.  In  almost  every  case  the  treble 
voices  anticipate  all  the  other  voices  in  leading  off 
each  phrase,  till  near  the  end.  They  fall  behind  a 
little  in  the  penultimate  phrase,  and  in  the  last  of 
all  the  subordinate  voices  have  several  bars  to  sing 
before  the  chorale  phrase  is  uttered.  It  is  as  though 
the  soul  found  it  difficult,  through  sheer  distress,  to 
utter  the  fmal  words  '' Wohl  an  dem  Kreuze  lange." 

But  in  truth  the  extent  to  which  Bach  was  moved 
in  this  case  and  the  thoughts  that  crowded  in  upon  him 
as  he  wrote  make  the  chorus  almost  impracticable. 
It  is  so  full  of  expressive  details  that  even  conduc- 
tors who  have  not  surrendered  to  the  entirely  gratui- 
tous theory  that  Bach's  deep  meditations  are  to  be 
set  going  like  a  lot  of  noisy  machinery  in  a  factory, 
are  driven  to  abandon  in  despair  the  attainment  of  a 
performance  which  will  adequately  represent  what  any 
sympathetic  person  can  see  that  Bach  intended.  So 
far  the  amplest  experience  conveys  the  impression  that 
the  ideal  expression  of  the  chorus  must  remain  unat- 
tainable till  conditions  of  rehearsal  and  the  attitude 
of  those  who  lay  stress  on  barren  tradition  are  en- 
tirely changed.  Meanwhile  those  who  are  capable  of 
understanding  derive  some  consolation  from  the  con- 
templation of  the  exquisite  devotional  poetry  of 
Bach's  personality  which  is  here  so  amply  revealed. 

This  chorus  completes  the  first  half  of  the  work,  and 
undoubtedly  sundry  religious  exercises  were  gone 
through  before  the  second  part  was  entered  upon.  This 
begins  with  the  tender  plaint  of  an  alto  solo,  evidently 
prefiguring  the  Church,  in  the  words  '' Ach,  nun  ist  mein 
Jesus  hin,"  to  which  the  chorus  answers  with  the  ques- 


2  74  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

tion  of  the  Song  of  Solomon  "Wo  ist  dein  Freund  gegan- 
gen,  O  du  Schonste  unter  den  Weibern?"  The  move- 
ment obviously  supplies  an  additional  prologue  for  this 
act  to  make  each  part  of  the  work  complete.  Then  the 
story  is  resumed:  Jesus  brought  before  the  high  priest, 
the  false  witnesses,  the  high  priest's  verdict  ''He  has 
spoken  blasphemy,"  the  chorus  of  Jews  "  He  is  worthy 
of  death,"  the  insults,  the  mockery,  each  episode  with 
attendant  reflections  tenderly  expressed  in  chorale  or 
recitative  and  aria.  Then  follows  the  episode  of  Peter's 
denial  of  his  Master,  and  the  affecting  episode  of  the 
cock-crow,  which  recalled  to  Peter  the  words  of  his 
Master,  ''Before  the  cock  crow  shalt  thou  three  times 
deny  me,"  and  Peter's  instant  remorse,  expressed  in 
a  melismatic  passage  of  recitative,  which  is  one  of  the 
most  touching  passages  in  the  whole  work,  and  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  examples  in  existence  of  the 
use  of  such  a  device  for  the  purpose  of  expression. 
This  is  followed  by  one  of  the  most  beautiful  move- 
ments in  the  work,  the  soprano  aria  with  violin  solo 
in  Bach's  most  expressive  vein,  Erharme  dich,  mein 
Gott,  which  symbolically  transfers  the  remorse  of  Peter 
to  the  worshipper.  It  is  a  notable  proof  of  the  com- 
pleteness of  Bach's  assimilation  of  the  Italian  form  of 
the  aria,  as  the  whole  is  most  deeply  Teutonic  both  in 
its  sentiment  and  in  the  richness  of  the  artistic  treat- 
ment of  instrumental  and  vocal  melody  for  the  ends 
of  expression. 

The  tragedy  proceeds  with  the  binding  of  Jesus  and 
His  being  sent  by  the  high  priest  to  Pilate  as  a  miale- 
factor,  and  the  dialogue  between  Pilate  and  Jesus,  the 
appeal  of  Pilate's  wife,  Pilate's  question  to  the  Jews: 
which  should  be  liberated  and  handed  over  to  them, 


The  Matthaus-Passion  275 

Jesus  or  Barabbas  the  murderer?  and  the  immediate 
and  spontaneous  shout  of  the  Jews:  "Barabbas!"  the 
absolute  reahstic  terseness  of  which  is  so  overwhelm- 
ingly effective;  Pilate's  question:  "What  then  shall  I 
do  with  Jesus?"  and  the  fierce  answer  of  the  crowd: 
"Let  Him  be  crucified!"  and  Pilate's  answer,  "Why, 
what  evil  hath  He  done?"  which  is  followed  by  the 
tender  recitative,  accompanied  by  two  oboi  da  caccia, 
Er  hat  uns  Allen  wohlgethan,  and  an  aria  with  an 
accompaniment,  which  seems  to  hover  in  the  air,  for 
two  flutes  and  two  oboi  da  caccia,  Ams  Liebe  will 
mein  Heiland  sterben.  A  repetition  of  the  fierce  chorus 
"Let  Him  be  crucified!"  follows.  And  so  the  tragic 
story  proceeds  step  by  step,  each  individual  taking  his 
part  and  the  "Turba"  vociferating  dramatically  till 
the  final  scene  is  reached. 

This  gives  rise  to  a  singularly  touching  alto  recitative, 
Ach,  Golgatha,  unseVges  Golgatha,  with  an  accompani- 
ment of  two  oboi  da  caccia  and  violoncello,  which  is 
one  of  the  most  perfectly  apt  pieces  of  colour  in  the 
whole  work,  and  is  follovved  by  the  aria  Sehet  Jesus 
hat  die  Hand  for  alto,  which  is  interspersed  with 
the  questioning  cry  of  "Wohin"  by  the  chorus,  the 
scene  of  the  Crucifixion,  and  the  bitter  cry  of  the 
Crucified:  "My  God!  My  God!  Why  hast  Thou  for- 
saken Me?"  the  rending  of  the  veil  of  the  temple, 
and  the  earthquake,  graphically  suggested  in  the 
realistic  manner  which  Bach's  sincerity  generally  m.ade 
convincing,  the  application  of  Joseph  of  Arimathea  for 
the  body  of  Jesus,  and  a  solo  for  bass.  Am  Abend,  da 
es  kilhie  war  (which  Bach  headed  as  a  recitative,  but 
which  is  in  reality  an  exquisitely  expressive  and  melodi- 
ous  arioso),  and  the  story  ends  with  the  burial  and 


276  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

the  watch  set  over  the  grave.  The  work  itself  is 
completed  by  the  reflections  of  the  worshippers  in  the 
recitative,  Nun  ist  der  Herr  {ur  RuV  gebracht,  with 
the  pianissimo  answer  of  the  chorus,  Mein  Jesu,  gute 
Nacht,  breathing  that  touching  intimacy  which  was 
characteristic  of  Teutonic  feeling  towards  Jesus;  and 
the  marvellously  noble  and  tender  double  chorus,  Wir 
setien  wis  mit  Thrdnen  nieder  und  rujen  dir  ini  Grahe 
lu,  which  again  bespeaks  the  loving  sorrow  of  those 
who  have  listened  to  the  unfolding  of  the  world-moving 
story  and  taken  it  to  heart  in  all  its  deeply  impressive 
and  suggestive  meaning. 

The  genius  of  Bach  has  so  enriched  it  with  every  de- 
vice of  expression,  dramatic  force,  variety  and  aptness 
of  musical  material,  and  interest  of  artistic  resource  that, 
notwithstanding  the  pauses  at  every  episode  for  reflec- 
tion and  contemplation,  the  whole  story  seems  to  pro- 
ceed with  constant  speed,  even  for  those  who  can  only 
partially  realise  in  imagination  the  circumstances  for 
which  the  work  was  written  and  the  peculiar  fascination 
of  the  conditions  in  which  it  was  originally  performed. 
There  are  frequent  cases  where  the  glamour  of  sur- 
roundings suffused  with  ancient  associations  and  deeply 
rooted  sentiments  lends  special  enchantment  to  works 
of  comparatively  little  intrinsic  value,  whose  aptness 
to  the  surroundings  is  fortuitous,  and  which,  when  re- 
moved from  them,  manifest  no  traits  which  recall  them. 
Bach's  "Matthaus-Passion"  is  at  the  extreme  opposite 
pole  from  such  works.  Though  it  is  absolutely  im- 
possible to  revive  the  conditions  for  which  it  was 
intended — chiefly  because  the  particular  type  of  wor- 
shipper's mind  to  which  it  was  addressed,  as  well  as 
the  material  surroundings,  are  gone  forever  from  the 


The  Matthaus-Passion  277 

world — it  suggests  the  sublimation  of  all  the  finest 
traits  of  those  conditions  and  surroundings  in  every 
page.  It  is  probably  the  most  beautiful  expression  of 
a  beautiful  phase  of  religion.  It  need  not  be  supposed 
that  a  devotional  attitude  so  supremely  ideal  could 
have  ever  had  a  general  practical  existence.  Even  in 
Each's  time  the  majority  of  the  congregation  would 
have  been  quite  unworthy  of  the  work  as  a  scheme 
of  religious  art.  It  can  at  least  be  said  of  them 
that  they  put  themselves  in  a  position  to  afford  Bach 
the  opportunity  of  knocking  at  the  door  of  their  hearts 
and  offering  his  view  of  the  manner  in  which  the  story 
of  the  Passion  might  be  profitably  taken.  And  there 
can  be  no  manner  of  doubt  that  most  people  who  have 
ever  heard  the  work  with  any  attention,  were  they 
ever  so  little  in  touch  with  the  devotional  attitude  at 
the  outset,  would  be  touched  with  some  glimmer  of  the 
divine  light  of  love  before  the  work  is  over.  For  truly 
the  keynote  of  the  whole,  as  has  been  said  in  connection 
with  the  "Johannes- Passion,''  is  the  divine  manifested 
in  man.  The  beautiful  conception  of  the  supreme 
sacrifice  of  self  willingly  undertaken  by  the  Supreme 
Being  in  taking  the  form  of  man  and  voluntarily  sub- 
mitting to  suffer  every  indignity  and  cruelty,  and  even 
death  at  the  hands  of  man  in  order  to  redeem  him, 
puts  the  ideal  of  absolute  self-sacrifice  at  the  very 
highest  point  the  human  mind  is  capable  of  conceiving. 
Bach's  ''Matthaus-Passion"  presents  the  recognition 
of  this  conception  by  Teutonic  religion  in  very  marked 
guise,  inasmuch  as  the  Godhead  of  Christ  is  scarcely 
anywhere  apparent.  The  tragedy  is  unfolded  in  its 
purely  human  aspects,  as  the  sacrifice  of  the  man  who 
was  ideally  adorable  as  man  rather  than  on  account 


278  Johanii  Sebastian  Bach 

of  his  divine  descent.  The  situation  recognises,  as  it 
were,  the  absolute  abnegation  and  the  full  acceptance  of 
the  brotherhood  of  man ;  it  sets  aside  the  glamour  of  the 
divine  origin  and  appeals  to  men's  hearts  direct,  to 
look  upon  the  story  of  unsurpassable  human  goodness, 
patience,  endurance,  loving-kindness  and  suffering,  to 
dwell  upon  every  moment  of  it  and  set  it  before  mankind 
as  the  highest  state  to  which  manhood  can  attain, 
redeeming  humanity  itself  by  the  proof  of  its  supreme 
possibilities  of  selflessness,  and  winning  the  title  to 
divinity  by  a  life  and  a  death  v/hich  surpassed  all  the 
experiences  of  mankind. 

It  was  probably  not  intentional,  but  in  the  very  first 
short  passage  of  recitative  this  situation  is  suggested, 
for  when  Jesus  predicts  the  coming  betrayal  and  cruci- 
fixion he  speaks  of  himself  as  the  "Son  of  Man"  not 
as  the  ''Son  of  God,"  and  the  answering  chorale  echoes 
the  same  feeling,  "  Deeply  loved  Jesus,  what  law  hast 
Thou  broken  that  man  should  such  judgment  pass  on 
Thee?  "  The  same  attitude  persists  throughout,  with 
the  rare  exceptions  of  such  movements  as  the  "Thunder 
and  Lightning"  chorus,  the  portents  at  the  time  of  the 
Crucifixion,  and  the  quotation  of  "Surely  this  was  the 
Son  of  God"  near  the  end,  which  are  just  sufficient  to 
keep  the  cuperhuman  element  in  sight  without  dis- 
turbing the  concentration  upon  the  human  aspects  of 
the  tragedy.  It  is  indeed  in  such  regions  that  Bach  was 
so  pre-eminent.  His  music  is  alm.ost  invariably  in- 
tensely human  in  its  expression,  and,  notwithstanding 
the  enormous  amount  of  church-music  which  he  wrote, 
unecclesiastical.  It  is  intensely  spiritual,  deeply  de- 
vout, nobly  and  consistently  serious,  but  with  the  large- 
ness of  temperamental  nature  that  reaches  out  beyond 


The  Matthaus-Passion  279 

the  limitations  of  any  four  walls  whatever  into  com- 
munion with  the  infinite.  The  story  of  the  Passion  as 
told  by  him  would  appeal  not  only  to  the  Christian  but 
also  to  a  pagan  who  had  but  the  slenderest  knowledge 
of  the  traditions  of  Christianity.  It  was  the  outcome 
of  Teutonic  Christianity  of  the  time,  and  yet  it  tran- 
scended it  in  the  far-reaching  power  of  the  music  and 
makes  an  appeal  which  can  be  answered  by  humanity 
at  large. 

Of  the  power  and  variety  of  art  which  it  displays  it  is 
hardly  necessary  to  speak.  After  passing  through  the 
various  phases  which  have  been  described,  his  mastery 
of  all  the  methods  of  art  then  cultivated  was  supreme. 
He  had,  indeed,  extended  their  range  far  beyond  the 
standard  of  any  composer  of  his  time,  and  brought  all 
that  he  had  mastered  into  exercise  for  the  first  time  in 
this  work.  For  however  great  many  of  his  previous 
works  had  been,  they  none  of  them  range  so  widely  and 
so  richly  as  this;  and  at  the  same  time  the  unity  of  the 
whole  work  in  style,  spirit,  and  texture  is  almost  incred- 
ible. The  strength  and  consistency  of  the  man's  nature, 
completely  matured,  make  every  page  glow  with  his 
personality,  and  with  a  humanity  so  noble  and  far- 
reaching  that  it  stands  alone  and  unique  without  any 
works  which  share  a  place  with  it,  or  anything  which  in 
its  peculiar  qualities  and  schem.e  could  follow  it. 

It  appears  that  when  the  ** Matthaus-Passion"  in  its 
first  form  was  first  performed  on  Good  Friday  in  the 
year  1729  it  was  not  fully  appreciated.  It  could 
hardly  be  expected  that  it  would  be.  Whether  he  had 
it  performed  in  succeeding  years  cannot  be  verified. 
It  is  only  ascertainable  that  the  original  version  was 
considerably  altered  by  him,  and  that  the  final  version 


28o  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

as  it  is  now  known  to  the  world  was  performed  under 
his  directions  in  the  year  1740  or  soon  afterwards.  It 
continued  to  be  performed  in  Leipzig  even  after  Bach 
died,  but  did  not  become  known  to  the  world  outside 
till,  just  a  hundred  years  after  its  first  appearance, 
it  was  performed  at  Berlin  on  Mendelssohn's  initiative 
and  under  his  direction  on  March  12,  1829. 

The  complete  survival  of  the  "  Johannes-Passion  "  and 
the  "Matthiius-Passion"  is  probably  owing  to  the  fact 
that  at  Bach's  death  they  came  into  the  hands  of 
his  son  Philip  Emanuel.  He  is  known  to  have 
written  three  other  Passions;  but  they  are  all  lost, 
apparently  beyond  rediscovery;  and  it  is  supposed  that 
it  is  owing  to  their  having  been  in  the  hands  of  Wilhelm 
Friedemann,  the  eldest  son,  and  the  irregular  and  ill- 
balanced  member  of  the  family,  through  whose  care- 
lessness they  were  lost.  Parts  of  the  music  of  a 
"Passion  according  to  St.  Mark"  are  said  to  be  pre- 
served in  the  "Trauer  Ode"  written  for  the  funeral 
ceremony  of  Queen  Christina  Eberhardine  in  1727 
(see  p.  262). 

There  is  also,  strangely  enough,  a  complete  *'  Passion 
according  to  St.  Luke"  in  Bach's  handwriting;  but  it  is 
evidently  not  by  him,  as  it  does  not  bear  any  resem- 
blance to  his  musical  personality  at  any  period  of  his 
life.  A  vivacious  letter  of  Mendelssohn's  to  a  man  who 
had  been  so  unlucky  as  to  give  a  large  sum  for  the  manu- 
script, under  the  impression  that  it  was  Bach's  work  is 
worth  quoting.     He  says: 

I  am  very  sorry  you  have  given  so  much  money  for  the 
"St.  Lucas  Passion."  True  it  is  that,  as  an  undoubted 
manuscript,  it  is  not  too  dear  at  the  price,  but,  all  the  same, 
the  music  is  not  by  him.     You  ask  "On  what  grounds  is  the 


The  Matthaus-Passion  281 

Lucas'  not  by  Sebastian  Bach?"  On  intrinsic  grounds. 
It  is  hateful  that  I  must  maintain  this  when  it  belongs  to 
yyou;  but  just  look  at  the  chorale,  "Troste  mich  und  mach' 
mich  Satt"!  If  that  is  by  Sebastian,  may  I  be  hanged! — 
and  yet  it  is  unmistakably  in  his  handwriting.  But  it  is  too 
clean.  He  has  copied  it.  "Whose  is  it?"  say  you.  By 
Telemann,  or  M.  Bach,  or  by  Alt  Nichol,  Jung  Nichol,  or 
plain  Nichol?     What  do  I  know?     It  's  not  by  Bach! 

This  verdict  must  be  emphatically  endorsed. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  MOTETS 

On  October  i6th  of  the  year  1729,  which  had  been 
so  splendidly  signalised  by  the  appearance  of  the  "Mat- 
thaus-Passion/'  the  aged  rector  of  the  St.  Thomas 
School,  Johann  Heinrich  Ernesti,  died.  As  it  seems 
most  probable  that  the  disorganisation  of  the  school 
and  most  of  the  unpleasant  circumstances  in  which 
Bach  found  himself  in  the  earlier  years  at  Leipzig  were 
ultimately  owing  to  the  decrepitude  of  the  said  rector, 
it  would  be  natural  to  anticipate  that  the  cessation  of 
official  incapacity  would  change  the  situation  con- 
siderably for  the  better,  as  far  as  Bach  was  concerned. 
In  the  end,  no  doubt,  Bach's  position  did  improve  very 
considerably,  but  as  no  new  rector  was  appointed 
for  eight  months,  the  effect  in  that  direction  was 
not  apparent  for  some  time;  and  the  most  important 
immediate  outcome  of  the  death  of  the  head  of  the 
school  was  a  new  work  by  Bach,  which,  for  once  in  a 
way,  can  be  definitely  located  both  in  time  and  in 
connection  with  definite  mundane  occurrences.  Er- 
nesti's  long  tenure  of  office  made  an  imposing  funeral 
almost  inevitable;  and  for  that  function  Bach  wrote  the 
first  of  the  great  motets  of  which  the  date  can  be  identi- 
fied; this  is  known  by  its  initial  sentence  as  Der  Geist 
hilft  unser  Schwachheit  auf. 

282 


The  Motets  283 

The  actual  form  of  art  which  was  signified  by  the 
name  motet  had  varied  considerably  at  different  times, 
under  the  influence  of  changing  taste.  In  very  early 
days  it  had  been  used  for  the  crude  attempts  to  combine 
different  tunes  together,  before  the  elementary  prin- 
ciples of  counterpoint  were  evolved,  and  in  those  days 
a  motet  was  often  a  secular  composition.  In  the  days 
of  pure  choral  music  the  name  was  used  to  signify  a 
sacred  composition  for  voices  unaccompanied,  very 
often  of  considerable  dimensions  and  in  several  well 
defmed  sections,  rather  like  movements  joined  to- 
gether in  a  series.  Later  the  name  was  used  for  com- 
positions on  a  large  scale,  including  accompanied  solos 
and  choruses  in  the  Italian  style,  and  mainly  homo- 
phonic.  This  form,  however,  is  of  no  concern  whatever 
in  connection  with  J.  S.  Bach.  The  earlier,  purely  cho- 
ral form,  after  being  cultivated  with  great  success  by 
the  composers  of  the  old  church,  proved  also  very  con- 
genial to  the  composers  of  the  Reformed  Church;  and 
many  noble  and  dignified  works  of  the  type  were  pro- 
duced by  them,  of  which  the  most  recent  of  high  quality 
had  been  produced  by  John  Sebastian's  uncle,  John 
Christoph  Bach.  Another  uncle,  Christoph's  brother 
Michael,  had  also  been  favourably  connected  with  this 
form  of  art,  and  so  also  had  Buxtehude.  So  a  number 
of  influences,  hereditary,  local,  and  racial,  combined 
with  intrinsic  qualities  to  make  the  old  form  of  motet 
peculiarly  congenial  to  John  Sebastian.  He  is  known  to 
have  written  a  large  number  of  such  works,  for  various 
groups  of  voices,  but  several  of  them  have  disappeared, 
and  several  of  those  which  are  attributed  to  him  are 
manifestly  by  some  obviously  inferior  composers.  The 
few  that  remain  are  far  above  anything  else  of  the  kind 


284  johann  Sebastian  Bach 

produced  by  any  other  composer  whatever  in  scope, 
intrinsic  interest,  texture,  artistic  resource,  and  nobility 
of  expression,  and  stand  high  even  amongst  Bach's 
own  greatest  achievements. 

It  need  not  be  pretended  that  the  motet  which  he 
wrote  for  the  funeral  of  Ernesti  is  among  the  most  at- 
tractive examples  of  its  kind,  but  its  qualities  throw 
much  light  upon  his  attitude  in  artistic  matters  and 
even  upon  his  disposition.  There  is  nothing  actually 
to  identify  Ernesti  personally  with  the  disagreeable 
relations  of  Bach  with  his  official  superiors,  but  the 
known  circumstances  make  it  obvious  that  Bach  must 
have  felt  that  it  would  have  been  quite  superfluous  to 
pretend  that  the  rector's  death  would  be  any  loss  to 
the  school,  and  that  depth  of  feeling  could  not  honestly 
be  displayed.  He  evidently  had  all  the  circumstances 
clearly  in  his  mind,  and  among  these  were  the  conditions 
of  the  performance.  In  this  respect  a  clue  is  said  to  be 
afforded  by  the  existence  at  the  St.  Thomas  School  of 
a  set  of  band  parts  to  double  the  voices,  from  which 
it  is  inferred  that  the  choir  went  to  the  house  from 
which  the  funeral  procession  was  to  start,  and  sang  the 
motet  in  the  open  air,  and  that  the  voice  parts  were 
doubled  by  the  instruments  to  give  them  support. 
But  besides  these  instrumental  parts  there  is  also  a 
figured  bass  part  for  the  organ,  and  as  the  organ  was 
certainly  not  carried  round  the  town  with  the  funeral 
procession,  the  inference  founded  on  the  existence  of 
band  parts  seems  somewhat  weakened.  But  again,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  existence  of  an  organ  part  is  not 
absolutely  conclusive  proof  that  Bach  contemplated 
performance  in  church,  as  the  said  figures  might  have 
been  added  for  use  at  practices,  when  the  choir    was 


The  Motets  285 

learning  the  work,  or  at  some  other  time.  On  the  whole, 
the  character  of  the  work  is  unfavourable  to  the 
theory  that  the  motet  was  sung  in  procession,  and 
the  existence  of  instrumental  parts  suggests  to  the 
open  mind  that  such  adjuncts  were  called  in  to  give 
the  motet  exceptional  effect,  and  one  distinguishable 
from  ordinary  motets  at  ordinary  services,  in  view  of 
the  exceptional  nature  of  the  occasion. 

At  first  sight  it  seems  strange  that  the  first  move- 
ment has  by  no  means  a  funereal  aspect.  It  is,  indeed, 
rather  matter-of-fact  and  business-like,  in  a  major 
key,  with  an  animated  rhythm,  and  ornate,  energetic 
semiquaver  passages  in  |  time.  The  eight  parts  are 
distributed  into  two  choirs  of  four  parts  each,  which 
answer  and  mingle  with  one  another  in  the  mas- 
terly fashion  which  Bach  alone  among  composers  had 
absolutely  at  his  command.  No  personal  feeling  can 
be  identified  at  all,  unless  the  singular  experiment  in 
realistic  suggestion  of  breaking  up  the  first  syllable  of 
the  word  "Seufzer"  to  imitate  the  broken  utterances 
of  grief  can  be  counted  as  such — a  device  which  Bach 
had  employed  in  the  early  cantata  Aus  der  Tieje  (p.  56). 
The  work  as  a  whole  may  be  more  safely  taken  as  a 
fine  official  document,  representing,  in  a  sense,  doc- 
trinal music.  Bach  was  theoretically  very  keen  on 
doctrinal  matters,  but  he  was  far  too  full  of  human 
temperament  ever  to  produce  a  fruitless  and  barren 
piece  of  pure  technical  disquisition;  and  just  when  the 
doctrinal  vein  seems  specially  strong  in  the  second 
section  of  the  first  chorus,  Sondern  der  Geist  selbst 
vertritt  uns  auf's  Beste  mil  unaussprechlichen  Seuf^er, 
where  the  time  changes  to  f ,  the  warmth  of  human 
expression  breathes  for  a  while  in  the  statement  of  the 


2  86  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

fugue  subject  and  its  strange  realistic  accompaniment 
of  broken  utterances  above  referred  to.  The  official 
aspect  seems  to  be  suggested  again  in  the  four-part 
chorus  which  follows,  Der  aber  die  Her^en  jorschet, 
which  is  a  kind  of  fugue  in  archaic  style  with  the  typical 
minims  and  crotchets  and  quavers  of  orthodox  counter- 
point. But  of  its  peculiarly  reticent  and  severe  kind 
it  is  a  fine  and  satisfying  example.  The  final  chorale 
maintains  the  standard  of  the  whole.  Instead  of  being 
sentimental  and  touched  with  the  sweetness  of  human 
regret,  as  are  so  many  of  Bach's  most  beautiful  arrange- 
ments of  chorales,  it  is  peculiarly  untender.  The  tune 
itself,  Lass'  jreudiger  Geist,  is  made  up  of  very  short 
phrases,  and  the  lack  of  swing  which  results  is  empha- 
sised by  the  pauses  which  occur  at  the  end  of  each.  But 
the  effect  in  relation  to  the  occasion  is  peculiarly  im- 
pressive. Each  little  phrase  comes  to  represent  a  short 
ejaculation  with  a  pause  of  reflection  after  it  (see  p.  272), 
and  this  combined  with  the  reticence  of  the  harmony 
causes  the  qualities  of  dignified  severity  amply  to  make 
up  for  the  absence  of  human  feeling  which  would  in  this 
case  have  been  out  of  place. 

The  contrast  of  the  whole  with  the  Actus  Tragtcus 
— Gottes  Zeit  of  the  Weimar  time — is  most  striking. 
In  that  cantata  personal  feeling  and  the  contemplation 
of  the  relation  of  the  human  creature  to  death  is  em- 
phasised to  the  utmost.  Bach's  own  temperamental 
feelings  in  the  matter  were  engaged  and  all  the  sweet- 
ness and  the  beauty  of  that  side  of  his  nature  are 
exquisitely  expressed.  But  in  this  case  we  are  face  to 
face  with  a  work  which  is  devised  in  relation  to  a  public 
ceremonial  funeral,  and  in  that  sense  must  have  been 
quite  strikingly  appropriate  and  elTective.     What  seems 


The  Motets  287 

a  paradox  throws  vivid  light  upon  Bach's  character. 
The  essence  of  Bach's  art  is  that  it  is  not  make-beheve. 
Men  in  official  positions  have  not  infrequently  to  make 
a  pretence  of  being  deeply  concerned  in  things  which 
have  not  the  smallest  personal  interest  for  them.  In 
m.any  cases  they  have  a  kind  of  ready-made  scheme 
which  presents  the  appropriate  trappings  of  woe  or 
joy  in  a  conventional  manner,  adequate  to  satisfy  the 
external  requirements  which  strike  the  public  eye. 
The  greater  and  more  independent  natures  have  to 
fmd  a  better  way  out  of  the  situation.  Bach  was  not 
personally  concerned  in  the  demise  of  Ernesti,  and  he 
chose  essentially  the  right  course  in  avoiding  emo- 
tional and  tender  feeling,  and  making  a  great  work  of 
art  worthy  of  a  public  occasion;  which  treated  the 
funeral  of  the  rector  as  an  official  matter  rather  than 
a  personal  one,  and  with  distinction  of  phrase  and  apt- 
ness of  dexterous  handling  discussed  the  aspects  of 
death  as  it  presents  itself  to  one  seeing  it  from  afar  off. 
In  this  way  a  motet  which  is  in  a  sense  singularly 
ungracious  for  the  most  human  of  composers  gains  a 
peculiar  and  exceptional  interest.  And  when  all  the 
circumstances  of  the  case  are  reconstructed  in  imagina- 
tion— the  funeral  procession,  the  attendant  crowds,  the 
respectful  recognition  of  the  closing  of  a  long  official 
career — the  scheme  as  worked  out  by  Bach  seems  al- 
most ideally  impressive  in  its  very  aloofness  from 
tender  considerations. 

As  has  before  been  mentioned,  a  new  rector  w^as  not 
appointed  for  eight  months,  and  then  a  man  of  very 
different  calibre  from  Ernesti  was  chosen.  Johannes 
Matthias  Gesner,  who  came  into  office  in  June,  1730, 
was  a  man  of  enlightenment  and  culture,  full  of  energy 


288  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

and  devotion,  and  unsparing  in  his  efforts  for  the 
furtherance  of  whatever  good  was  possible  in  any  phase 
of  Hfe  to  which  he  was  called.  He  was,  moreover,  an 
old  friend  of  Bach's,  who  had  met  him  in  the  Weimar 
time,  and  his  receptive  mind  was  fully  capable  of 
appreciating  Bach's  great  powers.  How  sympathetic 
and  appreciative  he  was  may,  indeed,  be  judged  from 
a  note  which  he  appended  to  an  edition  of  Quinctilian 
which  he  brought  out  in  1738,  in  which  he  says,  with 
reference  to  the  praise  which  Quinctilian  bestowed  upon 
the  skill  of  a  certain  player  on  the  lyre  of  ancient  times: 

All  th  s  you  would  think  of  small  consequence  if  you  could 
return  from  the  other  world  and  see  Bach  playing  with  both 
hands  and  all  his  fingers  on  an  instrument  which  seems  to 
combine  many  citharas  in  one  —  the  organ  of  organs, — 
running  over  it  hither  and  thither  with  both  hands  and  with 
swiftest  motion  of  his  feet,  eliciting  many  varied  passages 
of  sounds  diverse  and  yet  unified.  If  you  could  see  him, 
I  say,  doing  a  thing  which  several  citharists  and  innumerable 
tibicines  could  not  do,  and  not  like  a  citharoedos  playing 
only  his  own  part,  but  equally  watchful  of  all  the  performers 
to  the  number  of  thirty  or  forty;  calling  this  one  to  attention 
by  a  nod,  another  by  a  stamp  of  the  foot,  the  third  by  threat- 
ening finger  to  rhythm  and  beat.  He,  doing  the  most  diffi- 
cult part  can  discern  any  mistake  and  the  defaulter,  and 
keep  everybody  right.  Though  I  am  a  great  admirer  of  the 
ancients  as  a  rule,  yet  I  think  this  Bach  of  mine  combines 
many  Orpheuses  and  twenty  Arions  in  one. 

The  mere  fact  of  having  so  warm  and  intelligent  an 
admirer  at  the  head  of  the  school  must  have  made 
Bach's  position  much  easier,  and  Gesner,  while  exerting 
himself  to  get  the  school  generally  into  better  order, 
paid  special  attention  and  consideration  to  the  better 
allotment  of  the  duties  of  the  cantor,  and  relieved  Bach 
of  some  of  his  more  unpalatable  work,  such  as  teaching 


The  Motets  289 

Latin  to  the  lower  classes  of  boys,  and  at  the  same  time 
gave  him  more  control  and  authority  over  the  actual 
musical  work  of  the  school.  But  the  improvements 
took  time  to  effect,  and  there  is  one  conspicuous  proof 
at  least  that  Bach  felt  the  worries  of  his  position  most 
acutely  just  about  the  time  of  Gesner's  appointment ; 
for  the  only  letter  of  Bach's  extant  which  expresses 
decisively  the  desire  to  leave  Leipzig  if  congenial  work 
could  be  found  for  him  elsewhere,  dates  from  some  four 
months  after  Gesner's  arrival.  But  there  are  a  few 
trifling  indications  which  help  to  explain  such  apparent 
perversity  as  his  trying  to  abandon  his  position  as  cantor 
just  at  the  time  when  there  were  the  most  promising 
signs  that  its  circumstances  would  speedily  improve. 
There  are  proofs  that  Bach  was  on  the  worst  of  terms 
with  the  authorities  just  before  Gesner  arrived  on  the 
scene,  and  that  the  fact  was  very  strongly  present  in 
the  minds  of  the  council  who  elected  Gesner  is  shown 
by  the  remark  which  is  recorded  to  have  been  made 
by  a  member  of  that  body,  referring  to  the  Rector- 
elect,  that  *'he  hoped  they  would  have  better  fortune 
in  the  appointment  they  had  just  made  than  they  had 
had  in  that  of  the  Cantor."  And  this  state  of  affairs  is 
accentuated  by  the  fact  that  the  notorious  remark  of 
a  councillor  that  Bach  was  "incorrigible"  was  made 
on  August  2,  1730,  nearly  two  months  after  Gesner's 
appointment.  This  would  tend  to  show  that  it  took 
time  for  Gesner  to  make  his  influence  and  authority 
felt;  which  was  no  doubt  the  safest  wa}'  in  the  end  to 
make  it  permanent.  But  meanwhile  Baxh  may  have 
been  rather  discouraged  than  not,  at  finding  that  things 
were  not  speedier  in  mending,  and  this  appears  the 
most  Hkely  explanation  of  the  fact  that  the  letter  he 
19 


290  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

addressed  to  an  old  friend,  Erdmann,  who  had  been  ap- 
pointed agent  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia  in  Dantzig,  is 
dated  October  28,  1730. 

Apart  from  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  the  letter 
is  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  Bach's  personal  docu- 
ments outside  music  which  has  been  preserved,  as 
it  not  only  throws  light  on  his  impressions  with  regard 
to  certain  important  episodes  in  his  life,  but  it  is  also 
quaintly  characteristic  in  style.  The  greater  part  of 
it  is  worth  quoting.  After  the  usual  high-flown  ad- 
dress. Bach  goes  on: 

Four  years  have  passed  since  your  Highwellbomness 
gave  me  the  pleasure  of  receiving  an  answer  to  a  letter  of 
mine,  wherein,  I  remember,  you  desired  me  to  give  you 
particulars  of  what  had  been  happening  to  me  (Fatalitaten) , 
which  shall  here  be  set  down.  From  my  youth  up  you  have 
been  well  acquainted  with  my  "fata"  until  the  time  when 
I  went  to  Cothen  as  Capellmeister.  There  I  had  a  kindly 
and  music-loving  and  music-understanding  prince,  with 
whom  I  was  minded  to  complete  the  measure  of  my  life. 
But  it  is  to  be  observed  that  when  his  Serenissimus  wedded  a 
princess  of  the  House  of  Berenburg,  his  musical  inclinations 
seemed  to  wane,  as  the  new  princess  appeared  to  be  some- 
what unmusical.  So  it  pleased  God  that  I  should  be  called 
to  the  musical  directorship  and  cantorship  of  the  Thomas- 
schule.  But  it  was  not  congenial  to  me  at  first  to  become 
a  Cantor  after  being  a  Capellmeister.  So  I  deferred  my 
resolution  for  a  quarter  of  a  year.  But  since  the  position  was 
described  to  me  as  favourable  and  since  my  sons  seemed 
inclined  to  pursue  their  studies  here,  in  the  name  of  the 
Most  High  I  ventured  and  came  to  Leipzig,  passed  my 
"Probe"  and  made  the  change.  Here  I  am  by  God's  will 
thencefor^-ard  established.  But  now  I  find  that  the  situation 
is  not  so  advantageous  as  it  has  been  described  to  me :  that 
many  of  the  emoluments  are  withheld,  that  it  is  a  very 
expensive  place,  and  that  the  authorities  have  wonderfully 
little  sympathy    with  music:  so  that  I   must  live  in   spite, 


The  Motets  291 

jealousy  and  annoyance.  It  has  become  inevitable  (gen- 
othiget)  that  with  the  help  of  the  Most  High  I  should  seek 
my  fortune  elsewhere.  In  case  your  Highwellbornness 
should  wish  or  find  another  convenient  post  for  an  old  and 
true  servant,  I  seek  a  recommendation  on  my  behalf;  and  if 
that  be  not  lacking  to  me,  it  will  be  my  best  effort  to  give 
satisfaction  for  so  high  a  recommendation  and  intercession. 
My  present  position  represents  about  700  thalers  and 
when  there  are  more  funerals  than  ordinary  the  emoluments 
increase  in  proportion.  But  the  air  is  healthy,  so  it  falls  out 
that  last  year  I  had  100  thalers  less  than  ordinary  from 
funerals.  In  Thiiringen  I  can  live  better  with  400  thalers 
than  I  can  here  with  twice  as  much,  through  the  expensiveness 
of  living.  Further,  I  must  dwell  with  some  little  detail  on 
my  domestic  circumstances.  I  am  now  for  the  second  time 
married,  and  my  first  wife  died  in  Cothen.  Of  my  first 
marriage  there  are  still  three  sons  and  a  daughter  living,  as 
your  Highwellbornness  may  graciously  remember  (to  have 
seen).  Of  my  second  marriage  there  are  one  son  and  two 
daughters  living.  My  eldest  son  is  a  "  Studiosus  Juris  " ;  of  the 
other  two,  one  attends  the  first  class  and  the  other  the  second 
class,  and  the  eldest  daughter  is  yet  unbetrothed.  The 
children  of  the  second  marriage  are  yet  small,  the  first-born 
is  six  years  old.  But  they  are  all  instinctively  born  musi- 
cians, and  can  provide  that  I  can  make  up  a  vocal  and 
instrumental  concert  in  my  family,  since  my  present  wife 
sings  a  clear  soprano  and  also  my  eldest  daughter  strikes  in 
not  weakly. 

And  so  the  letter  ends  with  some  more  compli- 
mentary phrases.  Nothing  is  known  of  any  answer 
to  it,  and  it  had  no  outcome.  Bach  made  no  sign,  at 
any  other  time  that  can  be  traced,  of  wishing  to  leave 
Leipzig,  and  the  letter  is  chiefly  noticeable  for  the 
clear  light  which  it  momentarily  throws  on  the  writer's 
history  and  his  feelings  about  his  position.  From  the 
fact  of  his  not  following  it  up,  it  may  be  hoped  that  the 
conditions  of  his  life  and  opportunities  for  the  exercise 


292  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

of  his  powers  improved,  but  the  much-desired  evidence 
is  not  forthcoming,  and  the  only  course  left  open  is  to 
resume  consideration  of  the  works  which  mark  indubit- 
ably his  constant  exercise  of  his  powers. 

As  has  before  been  pointed  out,  motets  formed  part 
of  the  regular  scheme  of  the  church  services  at  Leipzig, 
but  of  the  many  which  Bach  is  known  to  have  written 
only  very  few  remain,  and  it  seems  that  those  that  have 
survived  were  written  soon  after  that  which  was 
written  for  the  funeral  of  the  Rector  Ernesti. 

The  only  motet  of  his  for  five  voices  which  survives 
is  Jesu  meine  Freude,  and  this  is  especially  inter- 
esting as  an  illustration  of  Bach's  characteristic  prac- 
tice of  making  the  sentiment  of  the  words  the  guiding 
principle  in  developing  his  scheme  of  design — that  is, 
of  using  design  as  a  means  for  conveying  to,  and  im- 
pressing upon  the  mind  his  conception  of  the  inner 
meaning  of  the  words.  The  pivot  on  which  the  work 
turns  is  the  chorale,  Jesu  meine  Freude,  a  tune  for 
which  he  seems  to  have  had  a  great  fondness.  The 
tune  was  familiar  to  Teutonic  Protestants,  and  as  the 
central  feature  of  a  sacred  work  of  art  was  far  more 
effectual  to  them  than  it  could  be  to  a  modern  people 
of  any  other  persuasion.  Bach's  scheme  is  to  alternate 
the  verses  of  the  chorale  with  contrasting  and  comment- 
atory  episodes.  The  principle  is  the  same  as  that  of  the 
rondo,  one  of  the  types  of  form  of  widest  distribution 
in  art,  and  one  adapted  to  the  lightest  of  gaiety  as  well 
as  the  deepest  abysses  of  passion.  The  chorale  hymn 
constitutes  a  kind  of  sacred  symbol,  radiating  sugges- 
tions which  are  taken  up  with  loving  earnestness  in 
the  episodical  portions  which  are  interposed  between 
the  recurring  verses  of  the  hymn.     Bach  gives  the 


The  Motets  293 

first  verse  of  the  tune  in  four  parts,  harmonised  in  his 
own  uniquely  expressive  manner.  The  first  episode 
which  follows  serves  at  once  as  a  parallel  and  an  artistic 
contrast,  being  a  typical  motet  chorus  to  the  words 
Es  ist  nun  Nichts  Verdammliches  an  denen  die  in 
Christo  Jesu  sind.  Rhythmically  disposed  har- 
monies alternate  with  richly  contrapuntal  passages, 
affording  the  effect  of  comparative  informality  in 
contrast  with  the  metric  definiteness  of  the  chorale 
tune,  the  second  verse  of  which  follows  the  first  episode. 
Another  and  much  more  extensive  episode  follows, 
in  three  movements.  The  first  of  these  is  a  trio  for 
high  voices  (affording  very  valuable  contrast  and 
relief),  the  second  a  chorus  of  severe  character  for  five 
voices,  Troll  ^^^  Griift  der  Erden,  and  the  third  a 
brilliant  fugal  movement,  which  passes  into  a  medita- 
tive adagio  with  the  words  Wer  dber  Christi  Geist 
nicht  hat,  der  ist  nicht  sein  at  the  end.  The  group 
makes  a  substantial  centre  to  the  motet.  After  it  yet 
again  the  chorale  comes,  its  third  verse  much  more 
highly  elaborated  after  the  manner  of  the  "Orgel- 
chorale"  and  brimming  with  expression,  with  its 
answering  commentary  So  aber  Chrisius  in  euch  ist, 
this  time  a  trio  for  low  voices,  which  happily  balances 
the  trio  for  high  voices  in  the  previous  episode.  Yet 
again  the  chorale,  but  most  subtly  dealt  with!  A 
quartet  without  bass  begins  in  a  new  key,  and  is  so 
far  from  suggesting  the  music  of  the  chorale  that  it 
seems  intent  upon  bidding  *'Gute  Nacht"  in  tender 
and  gentle  accents;  and  in  the  midst  of  the  flowing 
grace  of  the  quaver-motion  enters,  with  quiet  insist- 
ence, the  metric  tune  of  the  chorale  in  the  alto,  with 
the  words  "Gute  Nacht,  O  Wesen."    The  other  parts 


294  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

are  not  distracted  from  their  particular  line  of  thought, 
but  continue  weaving  lovely  phrases  into  polyphony 
on  the  "Gute  Nacht,"  while  the  alto  part,  still  faithful 
to  its  text,  continues  to  sing  right  through  the  metrical 
hymn.  Simple  as  the  procedure  really  is,  it  affords 
an  excellent  example  of  the  manner  in  which  real 
music  concentrates  a  vast  number  of  phases  of  thought 
simultaneously,  exactly  analogous  to  human  mental 
or  psychological  states. 

After  this  subtle  presentation  of  the  chorale.  Bach 
reverts  to  the  music  of  the  second  number  of  the 
work,  altering  the  words  from  "  Es  ist  nun  Nichts"  to 
"So  nun  der  Geist,"  etc.,  and  also  altering  a  good  deal 
of  the  musical  material.  This  return  to  the  first  episode 
is  obviously  of  great  value  as  an  element  of  artistic 
organisation,  and  is  enhanced  by  the  aptness  with 
which  the  chorale  is  again  introduced  in  its  fifth  verse 
to  conclude  the  whole  work;  and  the  sense  of  com- 
pleteness is  happily  enhanced  by  the  fact  that  in  this 
final  recital  of  the  chorale  Bach  resumes  the  simpler 
harmonisation  of  its  first  presentation. 

The  most  difficult  problem  in  a  work  on  such  a  large 
scale  as  the  choral  motet,  apart  from  the  humbler  prob- 
lems of  mere  technique,  is  the  attainment  of  adequate 
variety.  The  resources  in  that  direction  are  reduced  to 
a  minimum,  both  by  the  limited  range  of  variety  of 
colour,  and  by  the  actual  limitations  of  the  human 
voice  as  a  means  of  performance.  For  though  the 
human  voice  is  more  capable  of  expression  than  any 
other  instrument,  the  mere  physical  effect  of  sound  too 
long  continued  within  a  limited  range  becomes  weari- 
some. Bach  in  this  case  attains  the  necessary  relief 
from    monotony   by   limiting   the   number   of   voices 


The  Motets  295 

employed  in  three  of  the  movements,  and  by  the  con- 
trasts of  style  between  the  metrical  form  of  the  actual 
chorale  and  the  free  contrapuntal  style  of  the  other 
numbers.  Where  most  works  of  this  period  appear 
to  the  modern  mind  to  take  inadequate  advantage  of 
opportunities  is  in  the  distribution  of  the  keys.  The 
situation  is  illustrated  in  suites  of  that  time,  all  the 
movements  of  which  are,  as  a  rule,  in  one  key.  It  is 
obvious  that  composers  and  public  did  not  feel  wearied 
with  the  persistence  of  one  key  so  much  as  people  in 
later  times;  that  not  having  experienced  the  pleasant 
relief  of  frequent  and  apposite  shifting  of  central 
points  they  did  not  realise  that  it  could  be  of  any 
advantage.  To  a  modern  audience  the  excessive 
recurrence  of  E  minor  in  this  motet  gives  a  certain 
sense  of  monotony.  It  is  felt  that  if  the  recurrences 
of  the  chorale  tune  only  had  all  been  in  the  same  key, 
and  the  episodes  in  other  keys,  the  effect  of  those 
recurrences  would  have  been  so  much  stronger.  But 
Bach,  writing  for  his  own  generation,  put  eight  out  of 
eleven  movements  in  E  minor.  However,  the  changes 
in  this  case  are  most  apposite,  the  first  being  to  G 
major  for  the  fugue,  which  enhances  its  brightness, 
the  second  to  C  for  the  trio  of  alto,  tenor,  and  bass, 
which  enhances  its  innocently  flowing  character  in 
-V-  time,  and  the  third  for  the  quartet  to  A  minor, 
which  emphasises  its  tender  sadness. 

There  are,  unfortunately,  great  difficulties  in  putting 
to  practical  tests  the  scheme  and  the  beauties  of  this 
poetic  motet:  the  music  is  so  wedded  to  the  German 
words  and  so  dependent  on  ready  grasp  of  mystic 
suggestion  that  it  is  hardly  possible  to  find  a  choir 
which  could  perform  it  with  sufficient  sympathy,  or 


296  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

an  audience  capable  of  adopting  the  attitude  of  mind 
which  is  necessary  for  the  full  reception  of  its  qualities. 
It  must  be  regarded  rather  as  a  fascinating  revelation 
of  the  personal  character  of  the  composer  and  of  the 
depth  of  his  devotional  disposition. 

The  same  must  be  said,  indeed,  of  the  rest  of  the 
known  motets,  though  the  fact  of  their  being  in  eight 
parts  is  not  so  much  of  a  bar  to  their  being  performed 
as  might  be  assumed  on  the  surface.  At  least  one  of 
them  must  be  always  regarded  as  the  greatest  test  of 
pure  unaccompanied  choral  singing  in  existence,  and 
choirs  which  have  reasonable  claims  to  being  in  the 
first  rank  are  bound  to  attempt  its  performance  now 
and  then  as  a  tour-de- force.  The  motet  for  eight  voices 
which  is  made  out  of  the  clxix.  Psalm,  Singet  dem 
Herrn,  is  indeed  a  iour-de-force  of  the  kind  which 
appeals  to  a  large  public,  as  it  is  essentially  fit  to 
demonstrate  the  volume  of  tone  of  a  great  choir,  their 
spirit,  agility,  and  endurance — all  invaluable  and 
easily  appreciable  traits  in  human  beings.  The  object 
of  employing  such  a  large  number  of  parts  is  mainly 
to  make  available  the  great  variety  of  superb  effects 
which  can  be  produced  by  the  apposition  of  two 
complete  masses  of  voices.  The  basis  of  the  idea  is 
the  contrast  of  two  choirs,  commonly  held  to  have 
been  originated  in  the  two  organ  galleries  on  either 
side  of  the  choir  of  St.  Mark's  at  Venice,  which  Adrian 
Willaert  is  said  to  have  utilised  for  two  bodies  of 
voices  answering  one  another.  The  effect  has  always 
had  great  attractions  for  the  human  mind,  both  with 
accompaniment  and  without,  and  has  been  employed 
by  most  of  the  great  composers  of  serious  music  from 
the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century  to  the  present 


The  Motets  297 

day,  the  most  familiar  examples  in  Anglo-Saxon  coun- 
tries being  the  double  choruses  in  Handel's  "  Israel  in 
Egypt." 

The  advantage  Bach  enjoyed  over  all  other  com- 
posers in  employing  this  type  of  art  for  unaccom- 
panied motets  lay  in  his  unsurpassed  power  of 
characteristic  part-writing  for  the  voices,  which  pro- 
duces such  profuse  interest  of  detail  and  linear  texture. 
Through  it  he  is  enabled  both  to  obtain  sharp  contrasts 
in  the  work  allotted  to  each  choir  when  they  are  re- 
quired to  be  independent,  and  to  make  their  agreement 
decisive  when  they  have  to  answer  one  another  in 
different  levels  of  the  scale.  A  very  simple  and  elTec- 
tual  illustration  is  offered  by  the  beginning  of  the  motet, 
where  the  second  choir  shouts  lustily  the  word  "  Singet ! " 
in  spondaically  rhythmic  chords,  while  the  first  choir 
sings  ornate  melodic  passages,  which  gradually  fill  in 
with  rich  linear  complications  the  interstices  between 
the  chords  of  the  second  choir;  and  by  the  time  the 
process  is  completed  the  second  choir  in  turn  by  de- 
grees takes  over  the  ornate  melodic  passages  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  scale,  while  the  first  choir  in  its  turn 
resorts  to  the  jubilant  shouting  of  the  chords  to  the 
word  "Singet!"  the  chmax  being  the  close  ''capping" 
of  one  another  in  vigorous  alternations  of  short  phrases. 
Of  the  alternations  of  long  and  of  short  phrases  and  the 
variety  with  which  they  are  apportioned  there  is  no 
need  to  speak;  but  one  passage  may  be  described  as 
illustrating  Bach's  almost  incredible  facility  in  wielding 
multitudinous  parts.  The  words  "Die  Kinde  Zion  sei'n 
frohlich"  are  given  in  a  brilliant  fugal  subject  to  the 
sopranos  of  the  first  choir;  but  at  the  same  time  the 
second  choir  is  in  full  swing,  all  parts  being  busy  with 


298  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

the  musical  material  of  the  section;  and  in  this  occupa- 
tion they  persist,  as  if  quite  unconcerned  with  the  doings 
of  the  first  choir,  while  it  goes  through  the  complete 
fugal  exposition.  But  when  that  is  finished  and  all 
eight  parts  are  busy,  the  second  choir  seems  to  become 
aware  of  the  jubilant  fugue  subject  which  the  first 
choir  has  been  singing  and  begins  on  its  own  account 
on  the  same  subject,  but  beginning  this  time  from  the 
bottom  with  the  basses,  the  other  voices  answering 
step  by  step  upwards  till  the  whole  of  the  two  choirs 
are  engaged  in  the  same  brilliant  jubilation,  which  ends 
with  rhythmic  phrases  of  the  utmost  possible  vivacity. 
Though  the  description  is  necessarily  technical,  Bach's 
intention  is  not  technical  any  more  than  it  is  in  the 
many  other  cases  where  he  uses  similar  resources.  He 
has  not  here  to  convey  any  tender  or  emotional  mean- 
ing but  the  enthusiasm  of  human  beings  competing 
with  one  another  in  the  very  exuberance  of  their 
utterance  of  the  words  "Sing  unto  the  Lord  a  new 
song,"  and  in  this  sense  the  incisive  shouts  of 
*'Singet!"  ''Singet!"  are  positively  dramatic.  Yet 
this  would  be  impossible  and  utterly  barren  in  effect 
but  for  the  immediate  answer  of  the  other  choir  in  its 
more  continuous  phraseology.  In  all  such  things 
Bach's  treatment,  though  necessarily  discussed  in  its 
technical  aspects,  has  behind  it  some  human  interpre- 
tation and  human  purpose. 

The  contrast  of  the  procedure  which  follows  the 
first  movement  is  altogether  admirable,  as  the  second 
movement  is  based  on  the  simple  melodies  of  a  chorale. 
It  is  an  old  friend  in  a  new  guise,  for  here  again  we  have 
the  alternation  of  the  familiar  phrases  given  to  one 
choir,   and   answering  passages  with  different  words 


The  Motets  299 

and  in  more  free  style  for  the  other  choir.  The  whole 
is  charmingly  natural  and  tranquilly  devout,  and 
forms  an  episode  of  great  value  as  a  contrast  to  the 
movements  at  the  beginning  and  end;  and  after  it  the 
vigorous  jubilant  style  of  the  opening  movement  is 
resumed,  at  first  with  passages  in  which  the  two  choirs 
answer  one  another,  with  the  words  ''Lobet  den 
Herrn,"  and  finally  with  an  extremely  brilliant  fugue, 
Alles  was  Odem  hat,  lobe  den  Herrn!  Hallelujah! 
in  which  both  choirs  join,  with  rushing  volume  of 
sound  suggesting  the  utmost  exuberance.  One  little 
touch  at  the  end  is  almost  quaint  in  its  sincere  humanity, 
for  the  uplifting  of  the  human  feeling  in  the  last  phrase 
of  the  "Hallelujah! "  as  given  to  the  sopranos,  almost 
bursts  the  bounds  of  exact  decorum : 


r-^- 


Hal  .     le     -     lu  -    jah! 

yet  its  sincerity  and  aptness  to  the  situation  make 
it  genuinely  inevitable. 

The  eight-part  motet,  Furchte  dich  ntcht,  for  two 
equal  choirs,  has  only  one  movement,  but  that  move- 
m.ent  is  of  colossal  proportions,  and  is  divided  very 
clearly  into  two  distinct  portions,  after  a  manner 
which  has  often  been  pointed  out  as  being  a  favourite 
with  the  composer.  The  first  portion  is  character- 
ised by  the  rapidity  with  which  the  choirs  answer  one 
another  in  short  phrases,  and  the  second  half  by  the 
amalgamation  of  the  two  choirs  into  one  of  four  parts 
in  a  fugue  with  a  long  chromatic  subject,  which,  by  its 
continuity,  makes  a  marked  contrast  to  the  somewhat 


300  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

restless  and  broken  character  of  the  first  portion.  A 
chorale  is  not  introduced  separately,  but  the  tune  of 
Warum  sollV  ich  nicht  denn  grdmen  is  given  to  the 
treble  voices  in  the  fugal  portion  of  the  movement. 

The  motet  Komm,  Jesu  komm,  gieh  Trost  mir 
Made  is  of  very  different  character.  The  first  portion 
is  in  Bach's  expressive  vein  and  marked  "Lento." 
There  is  no  flashing  of  quickly  answering  phrases, 
but  the  choirs  respond  to  one  another  in  quiet,  plead- 
ing, melodious  passages  v/hich  are  maintained  in  the 
pathetic  fugal  portion,  0  lass  mich  nicht  in  Todespein. 
A  short  and  more  animated  episode,  Komm,  ich  will 
mich  dir  ergehen,  leads  to  the  most  elaborate  por- 
tion of  the  work,  a  finely  flowing  allegretto  to  the 
words  "  Du  bist  der  rechte  Weg,"  and  the  whole  is 
rounded  off  with  a  short  melodious  aria  for  four  voices, 
which  is  not  a  chorale,  though  harmonised  after  the 
manner  of  one. 

As  has  before  been  mentioned,  many  motets  are  at- 
tributed to  Bach  which  are  doubtful.  Indeed,  several 
manuscripts  have  his  name  written  on  them  which  are 
certainly  not  by  him.  This  is  possibly  accounted  for 
by  the  fact  that  the  motets  were  among  the  very  few 
works  of  his  whose  fame  still  lingered  on  during  the 
time  just  after  his  death,  when  the  world  in  general 
arrived  at  the  complacent  opinion  that  his  achieve- 
ments in  general  were  no  concern  of  theirs.  The 
motets,  however,  were  among  those  mysterious  shib- 
boleths which  hum  in  the  public  ear,  and  somehow 
stir  men's  fancy  with  the  tradition  of  something 
great  and  imposing,  without  their  ever  having  actually 
heard  or  seen  anything  of  them.  The  motets  con- 
tinued to  be  sung  at  Leipzig.     There  was  a  sort  of 


The  Motets  301 

mystery  about  them.  Wiseacres  who  occasionally 
heard  them  reported  to  a  curious  world  how  wonder- 
ful they  were.  As  Bach's  works  were  then  almost 
entirely  unknown  except  to  the  small  circle  of  the 
intimates  of  his  lifetime,  and  as  the  latter  left  Leipzig 
after  his  death,  there  was  no  one  there  sufficiently  in 
touch  with  his  style  to  judge  what  was  and  what  was 
not  his,  and  whenever  the  manuscript  of  a  motet 
came  to  light  without  a  name,  it  was  natural,  sim- 
ple, and  convenient  to  write  that  of  J.  S.  Bach  on  it. 

In  these  days  it  may  be  a  matter  of  surprise  that  it 
should  be  possible  to  have  any  doubts  whether  a  work 
was  by  J.  S.  Bach  or  not.  His  personality  is  so  excep- 
tionally decisive  that  it  would  be  thought  that  while 
no  one  else  could  pose  in  his  garments,  neither  could 
he  long  make  believe  to  be  anyone  else.  But  happily 
the  tendency  of  mind  to  think  of  any  man  as  super- 
human is  passing  away;  and  men  are  getting  to  realise 
that  it  is  more  wonderful  to  think  of  supremely  great 
works  being  achieved  by  human  beings  in  spite  of 
their  human  weaknesses,  than  to  account  for  them 
by  the  pretence  of  a  supernatural  character  which 
relieves  them  of  human  disabilities.  The  occasional 
moments  when  a  great  man  lapses  into  incoherence  or 
indefiniteness  only  enhance  the  interest  of  his  fully 
matured  works.  All  the  master  minds  whose  per- 
sonality is  most  conspicuous  yet  leave  the  world  in 
doubt  at  times  as  to  the  genuineness  of  works  attributed 
to  them,  and  in  Bach's  case  further  explanations  are 
possible.  One  of  the  motets  attributed  to  him  by 
Spitta  might  without  doubt  have  been  produced 
quite  early  in  his  Miihlhausen  period,  before  he  had  so 
comprehensively  enriched  his  powers  by  copious  study 


302  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

and  practice  in  every  form  of  art.  In  other  cases 
there  seems  no  doubt  that  motets  have  been  made  up 
of  works  by  different  composers,  just  as  so  many 
operas  and  other  works  were  made  up  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  eighteenth  century;  and  it  is  possible  that 
some  motets  attributed  to  Bach  have  some  of  his  work 
in  them,  combined  with  work  by  Telemann  or  some 
other  fairly  efficient  composer.  And  yet  again  it 
must  be  recalled  that  Bach  trained  a  remarkable 
group  of  very  able  pupils,  and  these  had  the  most 
favourable  opportunities  of  saturating  themselves 
w^th  his  style,  and  might  very  easily  have  produced 
motets  which  approximated  to  his  personal  manner 
in  his  least  personal  moments.  In  one  case,  at  least, 
that  of  the  famous  Ich  lasse  dich  nicht,  the  decision 
is  especially  difficult,  because,  while  many  good  judges 
think  it  is  by  his  uncle  Johann  Christoph,  the  fact 
that  that  composer  greatly  influenced  his  nephew  in 
his  most  impressionable  days,  and  that  there  was 
racial  and  temperamental  kinship  between  them, 
would  account  for  its  being  difficult  to  say  decisively 
that  it  is  not  by  John  Sebastian.  However,  it  clearly  is 
unnecessary  to  discuss  works  which  are  doubtful, 
since  their  being  doubtful  is  sufficient  proof  that,  if 
authentic,  they  are  not  fully  illustrative  of  the  com- 
poser's powers.  Among  the  likeliest  is  the  eight-part 
motet  Loh  und  Ehre,  most  of  which,  especially  the 
final  chorale,  might  pass  muster  as  Bach's  with  the 
obvious  qualification  that  he  sometimes  tried  experi- 
ments which  were  not  wholly  successful. 

The  four-part  motet  Lobet  den  Herrn,  which  has  a 
figured  independent  part  for  organ,  is  also  confidently 
attributed  to  Bach.    It  is  a  boldly  written  fugal  move- 


The  Motets  303 

ment,  with  sufficient  vigour  and  expression  to  be 
possibly  his,  but  it  is  of  scanty  importance  as  illus- 
trating his  personality  compared  with  the  works  above 
discussed. 

It  must  remain  a  matter  for  wonder  how  such 
phenomenally  difficult  works  could  have  been  per- 
formed with  such  resources  as  Bach  had  at  his  dis- 
posal at  Leipzig.  That  they  were  performed,  and 
sufficiently  well  to  have  been  impressive,  is  incontest- 
able. Taken  together  with  the  analogous  difficulties 
of  many  of  the  choruses  in  the  cantatas,  it  implies  that 
a  great  deal  of  stress  must  have  been  laid  on  special 
departments  of  technique  in  the  singers  in  the  church 
choirs,  which  now,  especially  in  ecclesiastical  choirs, 
have  ceased  to.be  cultivated.  Notwithstanding  the 
unfavourable  record  of  the  boys  at  St.  Thomas's  School, 
it  is  difficult  not  to  feel  some  respect  for  them  when 
it  is  considered  that  they  must  have  been  able  some- 
how to  get  through  such  a  supremely  difficult  work  as 
Singet  dem  Herrn.  It  has  naturally  been  surmised 
that  some  accompaniment  might  have  been  supplied 
to  these  motets.  But,  apart  from  the  fact  that  the  es- 
sential beauty  of  this  form  of  the  motet  lies  in  its  being 
for  unaccompanied  voices,  there  is  the  fact  that  no 
organ  part  is  in  any  way  indicated  in  the  score  of  most 
of  these  works,  and  that  among  the  parts  of  Singet  dem 
Herrn  which  were  used  by  Bach  for  performance  at 
the  St.  Thomas  Church  and  are  still  preserved,  there 
is  no  trace  of  anything  in  the  nature  of  such  a  part. 
The  case  is  different  with  the  motet  provided  for  the 
funeral  of  Ernesti,  for  which,  as  before  mentioned, 
figured  bass  as  well  as  instrumental  parts  are  in 
existence,  but  the  fact  that  this  was  for   a   special 


304  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

occasion,  and  that  it  is  the  only  one  of  the  group  of 
motets  which  has  this  feature,  mihtates  against  the 
view  that  any  accompaniment  was  used  for  the  other 
motets. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  MASSES 

Though  the  religious  spirit  of  the  northern  portion 
of  the  Teutonic  race  found  its  most  congenial  expres- 
sion in  the  chorales,  church  cantatas,  and  such  other 
forms  of  art  as  belonged  essentially  to  the  Reformed 
Church,  it  is  well  to  remember  that  a  very  large  portion 
of  German  principalities  and  powers  continued  loyal 
to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  that  German 
composers  had  to  supply  music  for  the  Roman  cere- 
monial as  well  as  for  Protestant  services.  Moreover, 
the  haphazard  distribution  of  Catholic  and  Protestant 
centres,  which  resulted  from  the  purely  fortuitous 
preponderance  of  ruling  family  creed  or  local  tradition, 
complicated  the  question  of  allegiance  at  times  very 
capriciously;  since  a  man  might  live  in  a  town  which 
was  mainly  of  one  form  of  faith  and  owe  allegiance  to 
a  ruler  who  was  a  conspicuous  representative  of  the 
other.  Such  a  situation  was  notably  illustrated  in  the 
person  of  John  Sebastian  Bach,  and  it  was  probably 
due  to  the  difficulties  which  the  divergent  claims  of 
the  two  forces  induced  that  the  world  owes  one  of 
the  greatest  musical  works  in  existence. 

Bach  was  in  the  employment  of  a  Protestant  insti- 
tution, set  up  in  a  Protestant  town,  and  devoting  his 

20  305 


3o6  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

life  to  the  glorification  of  Protestant  services  by  thor- 
oughly German  Protestant  music.  But  he  also  owed 
allegiance  in  the  higher  degree  to  the  Roman  Catholic 
ruler  of  Saxony,  and  whenever  there  was  any  serious 
question  at  issue  between  him  and  his  immediate 
Protestant  superiors  at  Leipzig,  the  ultimate  appeal 
lay  to  the  Roman  Catholic  power.  The  circumstances 
of  Bach's  official  life  constantly  tended  to  make  it 
important  for  him  to  stand  well  with  the  higher  power. 
Uneasy  relations  with  his  immediate  official  superiors 
began  at  the  very  outset  of  his  time  at  Leipzig.  The 
independence  of  his  character  combined  with  the 
high  level  of  his  musical  and  temperamental  standard 
to  put  all  the  lower  natures  in  the  town  council  and  the 
consistory  against  him;  and  the  anomaly  that  the 
theoretic  scheme  of  the  cantor's  duties  was  hardly 
compatible  with  the  actual  standard  of  work  which  was 
required  of  him  gave  an  appearance  of  substantiality 
to  the  criticisms  of  those  who  were  unfavourable  to 
him.  Things  were  easier  during  Gesner's  short  ten- 
ure of  the  directorate  of  the  St.  Thomas  School,  and 
in  him  Bach  found  the  liberal  mind  and  generous  tem- 
perament which  could  take  in  the  situation  in  all  its 
bearings  and  alleviate  the  strain  between  the  large 
and  the  petty  natures.  But  even  while  Gesner  was 
still  in  office  Bach  had  occasion  to  be  conscious  of  the 
lack  of  appreciative  sympathy  among  the  powers 
that  were  at  Leipzig,  and  of  the  advantage  of  standing 
well  with  the  ruling  Duke  of  Saxony;  and  in  July, 
1733,  when  he  went  to  Dresden  to  see  his  son  Friede- 
mann  installed  as  Organist  of  the  Sophienkirche  he 
bore  with  him  a  portion  of  a  mass  which  he  presented 
to  Friedrich  August,  together  with  a  letter  which  de- 


The  Masses  307 

fines  his  object.     After  the  usual  compHmentary  pre- 
face the  letter  proceeds  in  terms  of  modest  deference: 

I  lay  before  your  kingly  Majesty  this  trifling  proof  of  the 
science  which  I  have  been  able  to  acquire  in  music,  with  the 
very  humble  petition  that  you  will  be  pleased  to  regard  it, 
not  according  to  the  meanness  of  the  composition  but  with 
a  gracious  eye,  as  well  befits  your  Majesty's  world-famed 
clemency  and  condescend  to  take  me  under  your  Majesty's 
most  mighty  protection.  For  some  years,  and  up  to  the 
present  time,  I  have  had  the  direction  of  the  music  in  the 
two  principal  churches  in  Leipzig;  but  I  have  had  to  suffer, 
though  in  all  innocence,  from  one  or  another  vexatious 
cause,  at  different  times  a  diminution  of  the  fees  connected 
with  this  function,  which  might  be  withheld  altogether 
unless  your  kingly  Majesty  will  show  me  grace  and  confer 
upon  me  a  predicate  of  your  Majesty's  Court  Capelle,  and 
will  issue  your  high  command  to  the  proper  persons  for  the 
granting  of  a  patent  to  that  effect.  And  such  a  gracious 
accedence  to  my  most  humble  petition  will  bind  me  by 
infinite  obligation :  and  I  hereby  offer  myself  in  most  dutiful 
obedience  to  prove  my  indefatigable  diligence  in  composing- 
church  music,  as  well  as  in  your  orchestra,  whenever  it  is 
your  kingly  Majesty's  most  gracious  desire,  and  to  devote 
my  whole  powers  to  your  Majesty's  service,  remaining, 
with  constant  fidelity,  your  kingly  Majesty's  most  humble 
and  obedient  servant, 

JOHANN  Sebastian  Bach. 

Dresden,  July  27,  1733. 

The  ultimate  effect  of  this  letter,  reinforced  by  re- 
newed applications,  was  that  Bach  was  in  1736  made 
Hof-Komponist  to  King  August  III.  What  is  of  much 
greater  importance  is  that  the  movements  he  offered 
to  his  sovereign  were  the  Kyrie  and  the  Gloria  of  the 
B  minor  mass;  and  this  was  the  first  intimation  the 
world  received  of  the  existence  of  part  of  the  mightiest 


3o8  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

choral  work  ever  written.  That  he  had  not  completed 
the  work  at  that  time  is  certain,  and  it  is  almost  certain 
that  it  was  never  presented  to  the  monarch  as  a  whole, 
since  its  colossal  proportions  rendered  it  unfit  to  be 
performed  as  part  of  the  Roman  Catholic  ceremonial  of 
the  mass. 

The  whole  story  of  its  coming  into  existence  is 
indeed  enigmatical  to  a  fantastic  degree.  The  enigma 
might  be  soluble  as  far  as  individual  portions  of  the 
mass  were  concerned,  since  the  Kyrie,  Gloria,  and 
Credo  were  still  frequently,  and  the  Sanctus  occasion- 
ally, sung  in  Latin  at  certain  seasons  in  the  Lutheran 
churches  in  Leipzig,  but  they  were  not  sung  as  parts 
of  a  whole  consecutive  work,  but  as  insertions  in  the 
regular  scheme  of  the  Lutheran  service.  As,  therefore, 
the  complete  work  is  unfitted  for  practical  use  in  either 
Roman  Catholic  or  Protestant  churches,  the  only  pos- 
sible inference  seems  to  be  that  Bach  was  moved 
by  devotional  impulses  to  complete  the  music  to  the 
Latin  of  the  Roman  mass,  portions  of  which  may 
have  been  written  for  use  in  the  Lutheran  service 
at  Leipzig;  and  the  fact  that  the  composition  was 
spread  over  many  years  at  once  confirms  the  in- 
ference and  helps  to  explain  the  singular  qualities  of 
the  work.  But  the  enigmias  are  by  no  means  ex- 
hausted by  these  considerations.  Not  only  were  the 
movements  not  composed  consecutively,  but  in  a 
large  number  of  cases  they  were  adaptations  or  ex- 
pansions of  movements  taken  from  other  works, 
such  as  church  cantatas,  and  in  one  case  even  from 
a  secular  congratulatory  cantata,  written  for  some 
royal  visit  to  Leipzig.  And  among  the  amazing 
features  of  it  all,  not  the  least  amazing  is  the  aptness  of 


The  Masses  309 

the  transference  from  the  German  words  to  the  Latin. 
In  all  cases  the  connection  of  the  music  with  the 
meaning  of  the  words  in  the  respective  languages  is 
very  close,  and  the  result  not  merely  justifies  the 
apparently  anomalous  procedure,  but,  in  the  particular 
instances,  entirely  stultifies  abstract  criticism. 

It  is  clear,  then,  from  the  outset  that  Bach  went  to 
work  in  an  altogether  different  spirit  from  any  which 
could  have  been  adopted  by  Roman  Catholic  com- 
posers. They  had,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  two  different 
ways  of  dealing  with  mass  music.  When  they  wrote 
for  voices  unaccompanied  they  endeavoured  to  as- 
similate their  style  to  that  of  the  devotional  com- 
posers of  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
But  when  they  had  an  orchestra  and  solo  voices 
as  well  as  a  choir,  their  style  became  essentially 
mundane.  The  passionate  words  of  prayer  served 
mainly  as  syllables  for  vocal  music  which  would 
gratify  a  gay  and  thoughtless  throng.  Bach,  though 
using  the  same  Latin  words  as  were  employed  in  the 
Roman  Church,  took  them  to  heart  with  a  depth  of 
earnestness  which  was  essentially  Teutonic.  And 
this  attitude  was  the  ultimate  source  of  the  unique 
qualities  of  the  work  as  a  whole;  for  as  an  example  of 
the  setting  of  the  mass  it  stands  quite  alone,  even 
Beethoven's  great  mass  appearing  artificial  and  operatic 
by  comparison. 

The  mere  fugue  subject  of  the  Kyrie  would  be  quite 
sufficient  to  show  that  the  work  was  on  a  different 
plane  from  all  other  works  of  the  kind;  for  the  melody 
of  the  melismatic  passage  on  the  second  syllable  of 
the  word  "eleison,"  even  in  the  single  part,  suggests 
an  urgency  of  almost  painful   pleading;     while   the 


3IO  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

manner  in  which  the  passage  rises  to  successively 
higher  points  alYords  opportunity  to  give  vivid  individ- 
uahty  to  each  several  voice  part,  as  the  singers  vie 
with  each  other  in  the  eager  urgency  of  the  prayer. 
The  scheme  of  the  whole  chorus  is  built  up  so  as  to 
make  the  pleading  subject  mount  to  successive  points 
with  more  intense  and  more  moving  harmonisation 
till  the  whole  of  the  five  voices  roll  with  devotional 
fervour  into  the  final  cadence.  The  Christe  for 
two  sopranos  which  follows,  affords  a  very  effectual 
and  tender  contrast,  as  it  is  in  the  major  mode  and 
free  from  the  almost  gloomy  sadness  of  the  Kyrie. 
It  is  as  though  the  Kyrie  implied  the  recognition 
of  the  faults  which  needed  forgiveness,  and  the  Christe 
breathed  confidence  in  the  infinite  mercy  which  would 
pardon  them;  the  effect  of  the  voices  being  enhanced 
by  the  melodiously  flowing  accompaniment  of  massed 
violins  after  a  favourite  manner  of  the  composer. 
After  the  Christe  the  Kyrie  is,  as  usual,  resumed,  but 
not  with  the  same  musical  development.  Bach's 
instinct  wai  in  this  case  signally  just:  for  music  which 
closely  represents  and  follows  the  course  of  human 
emotion  does  not  admit  of  restatement.  Beethoven 
instinctively  indicated  the  simple  principles  which 
govern  the  question  of  repetition  in  his  instrumental 
works;  wherein  it  will  be  observed  that  in  those  which 
are  pregnant  with  human  feeling,  such  as  the  first 
movement  of  the  "Sonata  appassionata,"  and  that 
of  the  Sonata  in  A,  Opus  loi,  the  first  half  of  a 
movement  is  not  repeated,  but  only  in  such  cases 
when  the  charm  or  interest  lies  mainly  in  the  quali- 
ties which  represent  absolute  self-dependent  music. 
The  second   Kyrie   is    much    shorter    than    the  first, 


The  Masses  311 

sterner,  simpler,  and  reduced  to  four  voices  instead  of 
five;  and  the  clue  is  supplied  by  its  being  in  F  sharp 
minor  instead  of  B  minor,  thereby  supplying  a  singu- 
larly effective  anticipatory  counterfoil  to  the  Gloria 
in  excelsis  in  D  major,  which  instantly  bursts  in 
upon  the  close  with  brilliant  animation.  The  greatest 
contrast  is  effected  by  vivacity  of  rhythm,  and  the 
exuberant  energy  of  the  principal  subject  is  intensified 
by  its  being  first  presented  by  the  trumpets,  producing 
the  effect  of  a  dazzling  light  shed  upon  the  multitude 
singing  their  fervent  jubilations.  The  rush  of  sound 
after  a  while  comes  to  an  abrupt  and  arresting  close, 
and  the  mood  changes  completely  with  the  words 
*'et  in  terra  pax,"  a  contrast  of  subdued  wonder,  tran- 
quil, and  meditative:  into  which  is  infused  by  slow 
degrees  an  air  of  serene  joyousness  as  the  subject  of 
the  "bonae  voluntatis"  flows  in  among  the  quietly 
moving  phrases.  The  initial  subjects  of  the  Gloria 
do  not  make  their  reappearance,  but  the  music  warms 
as  the  two  subjects  of  the  "peace"  and  the  ''good  will" 
are  interwoven  into  a  close  of  perfect  contentment. 

After  such  an  extent  of  choral  work  the  Laudamus 
ie  is  aptly  allotted  to  a  solo  soprano,  associated  with  a 
solo  violin,  a  favourite  combination  with  the  composer. 
The  style  is  extremely  ornate,  but  never  degenerates 
into  mere  conventional  floridity.  It  might  be  suspected 
that  Bach  was  following  out  the  traditions  of  Roman 
Catholic  composers,  who  in  their  mass  music  were  so 
fond  of  writing  elaborate  roulades  and  flourishes  for 
the  operatic  singers  to  show  off  their  voices  for  the 
delectation  of  the  faithful.  But  he  had  other  objects 
in  view. 

It  may  be  admitted,  indeed,  that  BacK  was  one  of  the 


312  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

most  ornate  composers  who  ever  lived,  but  his  profu- 
sion of  detail  was  not  a  thing  aimed  at  for  itself,  but 
the  outpouring  of  the  superabundance  of  his  musical 
nature  upon  a  musical  groundwork  which  was  brimming 
with  vitality.  Ornamental  composers,  as  a  rule,  regard 
themselves  as  excused  from  presenting  anything  but 
the  baldest  and  most  conventional  successions  of  har- 
mony, and  possibly  eschew  any  interest  of  melody  on 
the  plea  that  the  decorative  adjuncts  would  be  spoilt 
by  it.  With  Bach,  ornament  becomes  available  to  add 
force  to  the  meaning  of  the  words  at  the  same  time 
that  it  ministers  to  the  claims  of  style.  The  solo 
movements  in  the  mass  afford  the  singers  more  than 
ample  opportunity  to  display  their  technique,  but  they 
demand  a  very  high  power  of  interpretation  as  well, 
and  without  it  in  this  case  the  technical  facilities  are 
purely  futile.  The  power  of  the  highest  order  of  inter- 
pretation is  also  needed  in  this  case  by  the  solo  violin- 
ist, for  the  part  for  him  in  this  solo  cannot  be  played 
by  anyone  whose  mind  has  not  been  adequately 
nurtured  into  the  completest  sympathy  with  Bach's 
type  of  musical  thought  and  phraseology.  Here  as 
elsewhere  Bach's  work  demands  a  high  elevation  of 
mind,  which  makes  an  adequate  presentation  of  the 
solos  in  the  mass  quite  as  difficult  to  obtain  as  the 
interpretation  of  the  choruses. 

Bach's  sense  of  style  is  fmely  shown  in  the  adoption 
of  the  very  simplest  possible  diatonic  procedure  in  the 
chorus,  Gratias  agimus  tihi,  which  follows  the  solo, 
Laudamus  te.  The  music,  indeed,  is  borrowed  from 
a  slightly  earlier  cantata,  IVir  danken  dir,  Gott, 
wherein  the  German  words  have  the  same  meaning 
and    spirit    as    the    Latin.     The    transplantation    is, 


The  Masses  313 

thanks  to  the  consistency  of  Bach's  style  by  this 
time,  entirely  conclusive,  and  ministers  with  singular 
value  to  the  general  scheme  of  design  of  the  work, 
suggesting  the  atmosphere  of  quiet  and  steadfastness 
most  grateful  after  the  elaboration  of  previous  move- 
ments. So  far  as  motion  may  be  compared  to  stillness, 
it  serves  the  same  sort  of  purpose  as  the  plain  spaces 
in  the  midst  of  ornate  structural  features  in  architecture, 
restoring  the  sense  of  stability  of  which  the  mind  is 
liable  to  lose  hold  when  constantly  excited  by  profu- 
sion of  details;  and  in  this  chorus  the  sense  of  stability 
is  confirmed  by  the  type  of  the  subject  used  in  its 
fugal  complexities,  which  suggests  a  most  ancient 
lineage. 

The  duet  for  soprano  and  tenor  soli,  for  which  the 
words  Domine  Deus,  rex  ccelestts  serve,  is  not  so 
ornate  as  the  Laudamus  te,  but  it  resumes  the 
richer  elaboration  of  texture.  The  melodic  material 
is  in  a  singularly  tender  mood,  the  cue  to  which  is  a 
short  descending  figure  of  four  notes  from  tonic  to 
dominant  which  Bach  used  rather  frequently  when 
in  that  vein,  as  in  the  solo  Sehet,  Jesus  hat  die  Hand 
uns  {u  fassen  angespannt  in  the  Matthaus-Passion, 
and  in  the  cantata,  Siisser  Trost  mein  Jesus  kommt, 
and  the  mood  is  emphasised  by  the  accompaniment 
for  flute,  violins  and  violas  cojt  sordini  and  pizzicato 
basses.  Such  a  mood  might  not  seem  obviously  appro- 
priate to  the  words  unless  it  be  remembered  that  the 
name  *' Jesus"  always  suggested  to  Bach,  and  proba- 
bly to  the  majority  of  German  Lutherans  of  that 
time,  a  feeling  of  tenderness  and  love.  The  activity 
of  Bach's  mind  in  pondering  over  these  things  is  illus- 
trated by  the  fact  that  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  duet 


314  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

the  solo  voices  always  alternate  the  words  "Domine 
Deus,  rex  coelestis"  and  "  Domine  Fili  unigenite  Jesu 
Christe,"  overlapping,  so  that  they  are  practically 
almost  simultaneous,  evidently  employing  the  avail- 
able means  to  suggest  "the  unity  of  the  Persons." 
In  the  final  passage  which  links  the  duet  to  the  succeed- 
ing chorus  the  voices  join  together  in  thirds  and  sixths 
in  the  appeal  to  the  ''Agnus  Dei"  in  a  vein  of  tender 
sadness. 

The  Qui  iollis,  a  four-part  chorus  which  follows,  is 
one  of  Bach's  most  concentrated  and  deeply  felt 
movements.  The  scheme  is  a  fugal  exposition  and 
free  developments  proceeding  therefrom  with  inde- 
pendent figuration  for  the  accompanying  flutes  and 
strings.  The  vocal  subject  seems  even  to  spring 
spontaneously  from  the  verbal  syllables,  and  every  in- 
dividual note  has  its  meaning  and  function  in  the 
scheme  of  melodic  expression,  of  which  fact  the  pa- 
thetic little  phrase  of  the  "Miserere  nobis"  w^ould  leap 
to   the  memory  as  a  spontaneous  stroke  of  genius. 


r-:r-^-. 

fN 

— JV_ 

N~ 

1 \ 1 • 

Mi*{f>       s* 

m 

' 

^ 

R  *t  I     '^ 

0 

^« 

*~ 

U-^-^ 

^ 

J-i* 

1 

Mi    -     se     -     re     -      re        no     -     bis, 

But  the  fact  is  that  the  movement  was  not  composed 
to  the  words,  but  is  borrowed  from  the  cantata  Schauet 
doch  und  sehet.  True  it  is  that  there  is  the  closest 
kinship  of  meaning  between  the  words  of  the  cantata 
*'  Behold  and  see  if  there  is  any  sorrow  like  unto  My 
sorrow"  and  the  Latin  "Thou  that  takest  upon  Thee 
the  sins  of  the  world,  have  mercy  on  us,"  but  it  would 
scarcely  be  believed  that  music  could  be  so  aptly 
transferred  from  German  to  Latin  unless  it  were  here 


The  Masses  315 

seen.     The   phrase   which   serves   so   ideally   for   the 
*' Miserere"  stands  as  follows  in  the  original: 


ih: 


-^ 


4-^^^ ^ 


Wie       mein   schmerz. 


f 

;cnr 


Apart  from  the  perfection  of  the  transference,  Bach 
improved  the  movement  in  the  process.  He  made  its 
texture  a  little  richer  and  transposed  it  a  minor  third 
lower,  thereby  giving  it  a  more  mournful  character. 
The   clue   to   the   alteration   of   the   opening   phrase 


^-- 


—4 


Schau  -     et       doch. 

is  found  in  the  forty-fourth  bar  of  the  original  ver- 
sion of  the  movement,  where  in  order  to  make  the 
relation  of  the  choral  bass  part  to  the  instrumental 
bass  more  perfect  he  modifies  the  phrase  so  as  to  pre- 
sent the  subject  in  the  form  in  which  it  appears  in 
the  Qui  iollis.  The  two  succeeding  movements,  the 
Qui  sedes  and  the  Quoniam  tu  solus,  are  solos  for 
contralto  and  bass  respectively:  the  former  having  an 
accompaniment  for  oboe  d'amore  solo  and  strings,  and 
being  in  a  vein  of  tender  pleading,  laying  special  stress 
on  the  words  "miserere  nobis";  and  the  latter  in  a 
bolder  and  more  strenuous  style,  with  a  very  striking 
horn  solo  and  two  bassoons  in  the  accompaniment. 

To  the  latter  succeeds  without  break  one  of  the 
great  choruses  of  the  work,  the  Cum  sancto  Spiritu, 
a  movement  in  which  all  Bach's  resources  of  brilliancy 
are  brought  into  exercise,  showing  the  ripe  fruits  of 


3i6  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

all  his  experience  in  this  particular  style,  which  is 
all  his  own;  combining  the  devices  of  fugue  with  the 
mighty  procession  of  harmonies,  which  march  from 
climax  to  climax  and  fitly  close  this  portion  of  the 
mass. 

There  seems  no  possibility  of  identifying  the  time 
when  the  Credo  was  written,  but  judging  from  the 
overwhelming  effect  of  the  change  of  style  which  it 
manifests  it  would  be  natural  to  suppose  that  it  was 
written  on  purpose  to  follow  the  Cum  sancto  Spiritu. 
The  Credo  is  indeed  in  what  may  fairly  be  called  a 
Latin  style;  a  powerful  adaptation  of  the  style  of  the 
Roman  Church,  which  is  partly  owing  to  the  use  of  a 
phrase  of  ancient  plain-song  as  the  most  prominent 
feature  in  the  music.  But  it  is  the  accompaniment 
which  Bach  weds  to  it  which  gives  to  it  the  character 
of  aifirmation  which  is  positively  fierce  in  its  intensity. 
This  character,  severe,  simple,  and  direct,  lays,  as  it 
were,  the  foundation  of  the  miusical  setting  of  the  creed; 
a  character  which  is  maintained  unflagging  through- 
out the  whole  of  the  opening  movement,  presenting 
Bach's  resources  of  polyphony  in  constant  measure 
of  dignity  and  power.  It  must  be  admitted  that  after 
so  decisive  an  opening  the  passage  to  the  words  Pairem 
omnipotentem  is  much  less  striking.  It  is  indeed  an 
adaptation,  with  characteristic  changes  of  detail,  from 
the  first  chorus  in  the  cantata  Gott,  wie  dein  Name. 
The  movement  is  animated,  but  indeed  a  little  formal. 
It  is  followed  by  a  duet  for  soprano  and  alto,  Et  in 
unum  Dominum,  which  again  is  rather  formal  in 
character,  the  doctrinal  statement  not  appealing  to 
Bach's  humanity  in  any  suggestive  manner.  Far 
otherwise   is   it   with   the   chorus   Et  incarnatiis  est. 


The  Masses  317 

The  reference  to  the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation  always 
appealed  to  composers,  and  even  in  early  choral  masses 
it  frequently  stands  out  from  the  rest  of  the  music 
by  reason  of  its  solemn  and  tender  feeling.  Bach's 
treatment  suggests  the  stillness  of  wonder  tinged  with 
sadness.  The  voices  move  slowly  and  quietly  through 
strange  harmonies,  and  the  violins  have  a  character- 
istic figure  of  accompaniment  throughout  which  sup- 
plies an  element  of  poignancy.  It  is  interesting  to 
fmd  this  figure  employed  again  in  the  cantata  Nimm 
von  uns  (see  p.  407). 

The  "Crucifixus"  which  follows  is  the  most  deeply 
emotional  chorus  in  the  whole  work.  It  is  a  slightly 
amplified  version  of  the  first  part  of  the  first  chorus 
of  the  cantata  Weinen,  Klagen,  Sorgen,  Zagen, 
and  is  knit  into  the  closest  unity  by  the  employment 
of  a  chromatic  ground-bass,  the  persistence  of  which 
adds  to  the  tragic  intensity  of  the  expression.  Each 
voice  enters  separately  as  with  an  amazed  soul-stricken 
ejaculation  of  the  single  word  "Crucifixus,"  and  then, 
all  joining  together  in  the  reflective  ''etiam  pro  nobis, '* 
warm  to  a  passion  too  deep  for  tears.  Bach's  supreme 
mastery  of  the  expressive  harmonies  which  are  obtain- 
able by  polyphonic  treatment  here  finds  its  highest 
manifestation.  Even  colour  lends  its  aid  to  the  effect ; 
for  the  bass  voices,  having  a  part  which  is  mainly 
independent  of  the  true  bass,  descend  near  the  end  to  a 
low  part  of  their  scale  and  produce  an  extraordinary 
effect  of  sombre  depth.  The  final  passage  to  the 
words  "sepultus  est"  is  one  of  the  supreme  moments 
in  music.  Its  wonder  lies  in  its  combining,  like  a 
psychological  condition,  many  different  phases.  While 
the  rare  harmonies  and  the  melody  descending  to  the 


o 


1 8  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 


lowest  available  notes  in  the  voices  express  the  depths 
of  overwhelming  sorrow,  the  subtle  alteration  of  the 
progression  of  the  bass  from  the  long  reiterated  form- 
ula which  has  persisted  throughout  the  movement 
suggests  to  the  mind  mysteriously  the  sense  of  some- 
thing great  that  is  coming.  So  the  very  passage  which 
embodies  the  utmost  exhaustion  of  despair  suggests 
at  the  same  time  the  premonition  of  the  triumphant 
Resurrexit,  which  seems  to  leap  from  the  very  close 
of  the  Criicifixus,  and  is  sustained  with  a  perfect  blaze 
of  jubilant  exhilaration  throughout.  A  very  striking 
feature  of  this  chorus  is  the  fme  passage  for  the 
basses  alone  to  the  words  *'et  iterum  venturus  est," 
which  is,  as  it  were,  intruded  out  of  sheer  exuberance, 
and  not  only  shows  Bach's  characteristic  vein  of 
melody  in  a  very  forcible  aspect  (which  every  singer 
who  has  enjoyed  singing  the  passage  will  confirm), 
but  is  also  a  stroke  of  genius  of  a  high  order  from  the 
psychological  side. 

After  a  movement  which  is  so  supremely  triumphant, 
reaction  is  inevitable.  Bach  allots  a  series  of  clauses 
of  the  Creed,  which  are  for  the  most  part  not  at  all 
inspiring  from  the  musical  or  emotional  point  of 
view,  to  a  solo  bass  voice.  The  series  of  doctrinal 
statements  have  very  little  inherent  cohesion,  so 
Bach  contents  himself,  as  elsewhere,  with  relying  on  the 
artistic  efrect  of  pleasant  flowing  melody  and  the  inter- 
est of  development  to  carry  the  movement  through. 
This  tranquil  movement  is  very  happily  placed  and 
serves  as  a  comparative  pause  and  a  moment  of  quietude 
between  the  Resurrexit  which  precedes  it  and  the 
rugged  severity  of  the  Confiieor  which  follows.  In  this 
chorus  Bach  adopts  an  archaic  manner  in  close  kinship 


The  Masses  319 

with  the  opening  phrases  of  the  Credo.  The  counter- 
point of  the  voice  passages  is  almost  unadorned  except 
by  such  simple  and  familiar  devices  as  are  recognised 
even  in  theoretic  counterpoint.  It  would  not  be 
exceeding  fair  limits  of  conjecture  to  surmise  that 
Bach  was  impelled  by  the  prominently  doctrinal 
aspect  of  the  clause  to  adopt  a  style  which  strongly 
suggests  academic  orthodoxy.  The  effect  of  purely 
contrapuntal  treatment  is  to  give  the  impression  of 
richly  interlaced  lines  without  much  decisive  defini- 
tion of  general  design.  This,  in  such  forms  as  the  fugue, 
is  indeed  one  of  its  charms  and  excellences,  since  it 
ministers  to  elasticity.  Bach's  mind,  always  awake 
to  the  subtlest  artistic  purposes,  made  use  of  this 
character  here  in  a  very  striking  manner;  for  from  the 
maze  of  the  five-  and  six-part  counterpoint  suddenly 
emerges  with  almost  savage  insistence  the  ancient 
plain-song  intonation  of  the  Confiteor,  first  given  to 
the  basses  and  then  in  augmentation  to  the  tenors. 
To  the  hearer  it  suggests  almost  dramatically  the 
assertion  of  orthodoxy  on  the  part  of  the  typical 
priest,  standing  out  in  its  uncompromising  decisive- 
ness from  the  vaguer  orthodoxy  of  the  masses  of  the 
people. 

One  of  the  most  extraordinary  passages  in  the  whole 
mass  occurs  in  the  middle  of  this  chorus,  which  shows 
the  extent  to  which  Bach  was  influenced  by  the  sug- 
gestive qualities  of  individual  words.  At  the  arrival 
of  the  words  "expecto  resurrectionem  mortuorum" 
the  character  of  the  movement  changes  so  suddenly 
that  it  seems  as  if  it  was  brought  almost  to  a  standstill. 
Orthodox  counterpoint  is  abandoned;  but  it  serves 
a  purpose  even  when  it  is  gone,  for  it  throws  into 


320  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

relief  the  surprising  series  of  harmonies,  which  evi- 
dently presuppose  the  mystery  of  death  being  in  the 
first  place  most  prominently  in  his  mind.  And  the 
sequence  is  just,  for  though  the  word  happens  to 
come  last  in  the  sentence,  in  fact  death  would  obviously 
have  to  precede  resurrection,  so  Bach  rightly  follows 
the  order  of  ideas  rather  than  the  order  of  words.  But 
every  word  is  made  to  tell:  the  strange  setting  of  the 
"expecto,"  suggesting  wonder-stricken  expectancy, 
the  characteristic  device  of  taking  the  basses  up  to 
their  highest  and  brightest  colour  for  the  word  ''resur- 
rectionem"  and  down  to  a  practically  dark  and  obscure 
note  for  the  ''mortuorum,"  are  only  a  few  of  the  points 
which  are  covered  by  Bach's  comprehensive  imagin- 
ation; beyond  them  is  the  manner  in  which  he  conveys 
the  sense  of  hesitating  bewilderment  and  terror  which 
suddenly  vanishes  as  a  cloud  before  the  sun,  and 
glides  into  the  joyous  light  of  confident  belief  in  the 
resurrection  which  is  vivaciously  expressed  in  the  final 
portion  of  the  chorus  ;i  as  though  the  mind  looked 
forward  beyond  the  gate  of  death,  and  the  soul  of  the 
worshipper  were  uplifted  and  absorbed  in  the  con- 
templation of  the  promise  of  the  limitless  after-life, 
with  which  and  the  joyously  confirmatory  "Amen" 
the  Chorus,  and  with  it  the  Credo,  concludes. 

It  would  be  natural  to  expect  a  considerable  break 
between  the  Credo  and  the  Sancius.  The  truly  tre- 
mendous scope  of  the  choruses  at  the  end  of  the 
former  makes  a  comparative  rest  from  surging  masses 
of  sound   and  great  exercise  of  physical  forces  almost 

1  The  musical  materials  of  this  jubilant  part  of  the  et 
expecto  are  the  same,  with  some  amplifications,  as  the  central 
Chorus  in  the  Cantata  Gott  man  lobet  dich. 


The  Masses  321 

imperative  to  both  listener  and  performer.  If  the 
work  had  been  constructed  all  in  one  piece,  and  there 
had  been  any  choice  in  the  disposition  of  the  words,  a 
very  considerable  contrast  would  have  been  desirable 
between  the  Confiteor  and  the  Sancius  which  follows 
it.  As  has  already  been  pointed  out,  Bach  wrote  the 
various  portions  of  the  mass  at  long-spaced  intervals. 
And  the  work  is,  in  a  sense,  like  a  compilation  of 
huge  independent  entities,  juxtaposed  rather  than  con- 
secutive, and  fused  into  one  more  by  the  consistency 
of  the  personality  of  J.  S.  Bach  and  his  religious 
feelings  than  by  any  principles  of  scheme  in  an  organic 
sense.  It  is  unlikely  that  Bach  ever  conceived  it 
possible  for  the  work  to  be  performed  in  its  entirety 
just  as  it  stands,  without  even  the  intervention  of 
that  rest  and  relaxation  of  the  faculties  which  would 
be  supplied  by  the  portion  of  the  service  which  is 
spoken  or  intoned.  He  may  scarcely  have  contem- 
plated its  performance  at  all.  The  conditions  of  his 
life  were  not  favourable  for  opportunities.  It  is 
almost  inconceivable  that  performance  in  the  secular 
conditions  of  the  concert-room  could  have  crossed  his 
mind  for  a  moment,  and  the  result  is  that  when 
performed  in  its  entirety  the  sequence  of  great  choruses 
presents  practical  drawbacks. 

The  first  part  of  the  Sandus  is  indeed  the  greatest 
conception  in  the  whole  mass,  but  it  labours,  in 
ordinary  mundane  conditions  of  performance,  under 
obvious  disabilities.  Yet  it  does  so  far  soar  into  the 
empyrean  above  all  that  precedes  it  that  even  the 
average  mind  feels  the  grandeur  of  the  conception. 
Moreover,  apart  from  the  fact  of  following  such  a 
series  of  massive  choruses,  the  conception  of  supreme 


32  2  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

adoration  expressed  in  it  follows  with  fine  intrinsic 
fitness  upon  the  music  expressing  joy  in  the  promise 
of  life  after  death,  when  the  glory  of  the  Deity  is  pre- 
supposed to  be  no  longer  hidden  from  the  worshippers. 
The  music  conveys  in  a  superb  fashion  the  suggestion 
of  multitudinous  hosts  singing  in  adoration,  and  the 
rolling  of  tumultuous  harmonies  through  the  infinite 
spaces  of  heaven.  The  chorus  is  divided  into  two 
portions,  after  Bach's  frequent  practice,  and  the  first 
half  has  a  dignified  and  massive  swing,  well  befitting 
the  solemnity  of  the  tenor  of  the  words,  and,  after  being 
developed  up  to  the  fulness  of  ripest  vitality  in  every 
part,  gives  place  to  a  brilliant  portion,  in  much  quicker 
time,  to  the  words  "Pleni  sunt  coeli  et  terra  gloria  ejus," 
which  has  a  very  spirited  and  rhythmic  subject  and 
serves  well  to  complete  the  movement.  The  Osanna 
is  also  inevitably  a  chorus,  and  is  very  similar  in  style 
to  the  latter  part  of  the  Sanctus,  besides  being  in  the 
same  key,  which,  when  the  performance  of  the  work 
is  without  its  liturgical  context,  is  rather  a  drawback. 
The  musical  material  is  in  this  case  borrowed  from  the 
first  chorus  of  the  secular  cantata  Preise  dein  Glilcke. 
Its  most  striking  feature  is  the  animated  effect  of  the 
two  choirs,  for  which  it  is  written,  alternating  and 
answering  one  another.  Its  vivacity  is  indeed  dazzling, 
and  lends  most  happy  antecedence  for  the  tender, 
contemplative  character  of  the  Benedidus  which  is 
given  to  a  tenor  solo,  with  violin  solo  accompaniment. 
The  style  here,  as  in  most  of  the  other  solos,  is  or- 
nate, dwelling  very  insistently  upon  the  essential  word 
"benedictus,"  as  only  Bach  knows  how  to  do,  in 
decorative  terms. 
The  Osanna  is,  as  usual,  repeated  after  the  Bene- 


The  Masses  323 

dictus,  and  then  comes  another  of  the  surprisingly 
apt  transferences  to  the  Mass,  the  deeply  pathetic 
Agnus  Dei.  As  is  the  case  with  the  Qui  tollis  and  the 
Crucifixus,  the  music  seems  to  fit  the  words  so  ideally 
that  it  is  difficult  to  realise  that  it  was  not  originally 
conceived  in  connection  with  them.  The  words  in 
the  Ascension-tide  cantata  Lohet  Gott,  from  which 
it  is  taken,  are  Ach,  hleibet  doch  mein  liehster  Lehen, 
and  are  obviously  akin  in  feeling  to  those  of  the  Agnus, 
though  not  bearing  the  same  significance.  The  move- 
ment is  subjected  to  much  more  expansion  and  develop- 
ment than  the  previous  transferences  in  the  Mass, 
and  the  result  is  the  most  beautiful  solo  movement 
in  the  whole  work,  breathing  the  tenderest  melancholy, 
which  the  nobly  melodious  accompaniment  of  the 
massed  violins,  partly  echoing  the  strains  of  the  voice 
and  partly  giving  play  to  independent  figures,  vastly 
enhances.  The  mass  concludes  with  a  repetition  of  the 
music  of  the  Gratias  agimus  from  the  earlier  part  of 
the  work,  to  the  concluding  words  "Dona  nobis  pacem," 
the  noble  simplicity  of  style  making  a  very  fitting  and 
solemn  conclusion  to  the  immense  scheme. 

The  work  as  a  whole  is  not  only  unique  in  its 
greatness  and  in  the  strange  manner  in  which  it 
was  composed,  but  also  as  a  vindication  of  the 
completeness  with  which  it  manifests  the  consist- 
ency of  Bach's  individual  character.  For  while  the 
music  composed  expressly  for  the  mass  spreads  over 
several  years,  the  Kyrie  and  Gloria  having  been 
written  at  latest  in  1733,  and  the  Credo  possibly  before 
that,  the  Crucifixus  before  1729,  and  theSanctus  not  till 
1735  at  the  earliest,  yet  the  consistency  of  the  devo- 
tional personality  of  the  composer  welds  the  whole  into 


324  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

a  convincing  unity.  The  borrowed  movements  are  so 
admirably  applied  that,  in  truth,  some  of  them  are 
among  the  most  beautiful  and  expressive  in  the  work,  as 
they  are  among  the  most  perfect  in  the  whole  range  of 
the  cantatas.  The  borrowing  may  be  explained  by  the 
surmise  that  Bach  did  not  expect  his  church  cantatas 
to  be  frequently  performed,  and  that  such  music  as  he 
could  not  help  knowing  to  be  as  noble  and  expressive 
as  any  he  could  produce  might  well  be  transferred  to  a 
place  for  which  it  was  so  ideally  fitted.  As  it  happens, 
these  noble  movements  have  more  opportunity  to  be 
heard  in  the  mass  than  they  have  in  their  original 
conditions,  and  the  world  has  reason  to  be  grateful  for 
a  procedure  which  brought  such  movements  as  the 
Qui  tollis,  the  Crucifixiis,  and  the  Agnus  Dei  within 
the  scope  of  a  single  work.  But,  whether  the  expressly 
composed  movements  or  the  borrowed  movements 
are  concerned,  all  alike  show  the  fervour  of  intention 
and  intuition,  the  depth  of  brooding  thought,  and  the 
unsurpassable  power  to  convey  in  the  richest  and 
most  exalted  manner  the  spiritual  meaning  which 
the  composer  felt  to  be  embodied  in  the  words. 

Bach  also  wrote  several  masses  on  a  smaller  scale 
than  the  B  minor  mass,  but  they  do  not  call  for  de- 
tailed consideration.  Two  of  them,  in  G  major  and  G 
minor,  are  compilations  of  movements  and  materials 
from  various  cantatas,  such  as  Es  wartet  alles  auf 
dich,  and  IV er  Dank  opjert,  and  HaU  im  Ge- 
ddcUniss,  and  Gott,  der  Herr,  ist  Sonn'  iind  Schild — 
often  more  curious  than  satisfactory.  It  seems  prob- 
able that  both  these  works  were  written  for  the  Roman 
Catholic  service,  probably  to  keep  his  Roman  Catholic 
Lord  Paramount,  the  Duke  of  Saxony,  in  mind  of  him, 


The  Masses  325 

and  this  may  have  also  been  the  case  with  the  A  major 
mass,  part  of  which  was  borrowed  from  earlier  works, 
and  part  composed  specially.  Of  the  latter  the  opening 
Kyrie  is  a  very  fine  specimen  of  Bach's  choral  writ- 
ing, and  of  his  extraordinary  mastery  of  technical 
feats,  as  no  inconsiderable  part  of  it  is  worked  in 
canon. 

The  F  major  mass  can  hardly  have  been  intended 
for  the  Roman  Catholic  ceremony,  as  the  remarkable 
feature  occurs  in  the  Kyrie  of  a  Protestant  chorale, 
Christe,  du  Lamm  Gottes,  being  introduced  very  con- 
spicuously in  the  instrumental  accompaniment  to 
the  severely  contrapuntal  voice  parts.  This  would 
imply  that  if  performance  was  contemplated  at  all 
it  was  intended  for  use  at  Leipzig  at  seasons  when 
portions  of  the  service  were  still  sung  in  Latin.  The 
suggestiveness  of  the  particular  chorale  in  conjunction 
with  the  Kyrie  is  obvious.  It  is  also  noteworthy 
that  in  this  same  chorus  Bach  introduces  a  canto  fermo 
of  the  old  church  taken  from  the  litany,  thus  com- 
bining traits  of  the  older  form  of  the  religion  with  the 
new,  as  if  to  typify  the  continuity  of  the  essential 
basis  of  religious  worship.  It  seems  probable  that  the 
masses  were  written  at  about  the  same  period  of  his 
life  as  the  B  minor  mass,  that  is,  between  1730  and 
1737,  and  it  may  be  recalled  that  it  was  in  the  year 
1738  that  Bach  was  made  Hofcomponist  to  the  Duke 
of  Saxony,  who  was  also  titular  King  of  Poland. 


CHAPTER  IX 

SECULAR  CANTATAS 

A  LARGE  number  of  secular  cantatas,  serenatas,  and 
works  of  that  kind  which  Bach  wrote  at  various  times 
are,  it  may  be  admitted,  of  less  intrinsic  interest  than 
the  rest  of  his  works.  But  circumstances  invest  them 
with  very  considerable  external  interest.  In  the  first 
place,  curiosity  is  aroused  to  see  in  what  way  the  mind 
which  revealed  itself  most  fully  in  art  of  the  most 
elevated  kind  would  comport  itself  in  circumstances 
where  loftiness  of  thought  and  deep  feeling  would  be 
superfluous.  And  the  interest  of  the  situation  does  not 
confine  itself  to  the  simple  question  whether  Bach 
was  capable  of  gaiety,  light-hearted  merriment,  and 
humour,  for  most  of  his  secular  works  on  a  large 
scale  were  official  productions,  written  to  grace  court 
functions  of  various  royal  or  aristocratic  patrons ;  and 
it  would  be  hard  to  fmd  any  type  of  art  which  was  less 
likely  to  appeal  to  him  or  elicit  his  fmest  inspirations. 
The  high-flown  extravagance  which  characterised  poems 
written  for  such  occasions  was  qualified  to  stupefy 
anyone  but  the  most  hardened  of  official  composers, 
and  it  is  very  interesting  to  consider  Bach's  efforts  to 
deal  with  them  without  belying  his  personality.  More- 
over the  complications  do  not  cease  there.    As  has  been 

326 


Secular  Cantatas  327 

pointed  out,  a  great  amount  of  useful  work  had  been 
done  before  his  time  in  the  development  of  style  and 
artistic  methods,  but  this  had  been  for  the  most  part, 
especially  in  Germany,  in  the  line  of  sacred  music. 
The  only  branches  of  art  on  a  large  scale  in  which 
secular  style  had  been  deliberately  cultivated  were 
the  Italian  opera  and  the  Italian  serenata;  but  these 
types  of  art  had  not  appealed  to  him,  because  the 
harmonic  style  which  they  represented  was  as  yet  in 
a  much  more  elementary  phase  of  development  than 
the  polyphonic  or  contrapuntal  style  in  which  he 
found  his  most  congenial  sphere  of  utterance.  The 
cultivation  of  the  homophonic  style  by  Italian  com- 
posers had  already  awakened  men's  minds  to  a  lively 
perception  of  the  virtues  of  design,  and  Bach,  with  his 
usual  openness  of  mind,  had  followed  their  lead  in  such 
respects  as  approved  themselves  to  his  judgment. 

But  it  is  not  in  types  of  design  that  the  differences 
between  sacred  and  secular  music  are  found.  Ele- 
mentary principles  of  construction  are  of  universal 
application.  The  buildings  provided  for  great  gather- 
ings of  people  at  concerts  or  public  meetings  must 
have  roofs  and  walls  and  means  of  access  and  egress 
like  churches  and  cathedrals.  The  principles  of 
form  of  some  of  the  most  deeply  impressive  choruses 
and  sacred  works  by  the  greatest  composers  are  the  same 
as  those  of  the  most  trivial  songs  in  the  cheapest  of 
comic  operas.  It  is  in  the  style  of  detail,  in  texture, 
type  of  ornament,  forms  of  expression,  the  features  in 
which  human  and  aesthetic  interest  is  presented,  that 
the  main  differences  between  secular  and  sacred  art 
are  manifested.  Bach  himself,  in  adopting  Italian 
types   of   form,  did    not   abandon   the   contrapuntal 


S2S  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

methods  which  were  so  deeply  engrained  in  his  dis- 
position; but  the  ItaHans  were  tending  to  lay  so  much 
stress  on  the  agreeable  effect  of  well  managed  form 
that  their  attitude  was  reacting  unfavourably  on  the 
intrinsic  qualities  of  their  music.  They  were  pass- 
ing into  the  hopelessly  barren  period,  when  people 
were  satisfied  with  mere  regularity  and  clearness  of 
construction  slightly  adorned  with  meaningless  and 
conventional  ornamentation.  There,  of  course.  Bach 
could  not  follow  them. 

Hence  the  difficulties  of  his  position  in  relation  to 
secular  art  of  this  type  were  accentuated;  for  the 
contrapuntal  style  in  choral  music  was  so  intimately 
and  deeply  associated  with  sacred  music  that  it  would 
be  difficult  to  shake  off  the  feeling  of  incongruity  when 
it  was  used  for  secular  words.  In  this  kind  of  art  the 
differentiation  of  style  had  hardly  begun.  The  fact 
that  Bach  had  given  much  attention  to  secular  instru- 
mental music  did  not  afford  much  help.  No  doubt  it 
lightened  his  hand  and  infused  a  rhythmic  lilt  into 
his  secular  compositions  which  was  often  of  the  great- 
est service;  but  the  style  of  such  instrumental  music 
was  not  universally  adaptable  to  the  choral  move- 
ments and  vocal  solos  of  the  secular  cantatas,  though, 
as  will  presently  be  seen,  he  availed  himself  of  dance 
measures  in  them  with  happy  effect  when  occa- 
sion served.  So  it  comes  about  that  the  greater 
portion  of  the  music  of  the  secular  cantatas,  especially 
those  written  for  court  functions,  is  not  conspicuously 
different  in  style  from  his  sacred  music.  The  facts 
are  confirmed  by  the  parallel  case  of  Handel,  for  the 
difference  in  style  between  his  opera  and  oratorio 
airs  is  fundamentally   very   slight;    and   one  of  the 


Secular  Cantatas  329 

most  tender  of  his  love  songs  from  an  opera  has  been 
adapted  to  sacred  words  of  most  serious  import,  and 
is  sung  in  churches  without  conveying  any  sense  of 
impropriety  to  worshippers  who  are  unaware  of  its 
original  intention,  while  many  of  the  finest  choruses 
in  his  secular  serenatas  and  odes  are  identical  in  style 
with  his  oratorio  choruses. 

The  secular  cantatas  of  Bach  do  not,  therefore,  in 
themselves  illustrate  any  special  phase  of  development 
in  the  composer,  but  they  do  very  strangely  illustrate 
the  adaptability  of  quasi-secular  music  to  sacred  con- 
ditions, and  the  fact  that  a  good  deal  of  very  admirable 
music  lies  in  the  neutral  ground,  where  kindred  emo- 
tions are  aroused  which  are  only  identifiable  as  sacred 
or  secular  by  the  words  with  which  they  are  associated. 
The  border  line  between  the  sacred  and  the  secular 
must  in  any  case  be  as  indefinite  and  unstable  as  the 
border  line  in  any  other  sphere.  Though  musical 
secularity  tends  away  from  the  sacred  type  in  the 
dii'ection  of  gaiety  and  superficiality,  the  deeper  secular 
emotions,  in  proportion  as  they  become  more  serious, 
assimilate  closely  to  religious  emotions. 

Bach  was  undoubtedly  capable  of  ample  gaiety 
and  merriment,  as  the  lighter  movements  in  his  suites 
and  overtures  show.  On  the  other  hand,  his  sacred 
music  dealt  with  religious  emotions  which  were  not 
afllliated  or  restricted  to  any  particular  denomination, 
but  were  deep  enough  to  be  universal.  And  hence 
came  about  the  circumstance  which  at  first  sight 
seems  so  perplexing,  that  many  of  the  choruses  and 
solo  movements  which  Bach  wrote  for  court  functions 
were  afterwards  fitted  with  solemn  words  and  trans- 
ferred successfully  to  sacred  works.     If  the  music  of 


33^  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

these  works  had  been  exclusively  secular,  such  pro- 
cedure would  have  appeared  almost  revolting.  But, 
in  fact,  the  result  shows  how  deeply  sincere  Bach  could 
be  even  when  he  had  to  write  music  for  a  court 
function. 

It  is  most  probable  that  the  earliest  of  these  court- 
functional  works  was  written  in  the  Weimar  days, 
for  no  occasion  is  known  which  would  account  for  an 
earlier  composition  than  the  hunting  cantata  IVas 
mir  behagt,  which  was  composed  by  command  of  Duke 
Wilhelm  Ernst  to  words  by  Salomo  Franck  in  honour  of 
a  hunting  party  which  took  place  on  the  birthday  of 
Duke  Christian  of  Saxe  Weissenfels  in  February,  171 6. 
Like  many  other  secular  cantatas  by  Bach,  the  sub- 
ject is  treated  semi-dramatically.  The  soloists  im- 
personate Diana  as  goddess  of  hunting;  Endymion, 
with  whom  she  had  been  in  love  but  whom  she  was 
temporarily  setting  aside  while  giving  her  attention 
to  Duke  Christian;  Pan  as  god  of  the  countryside, 
and  Pales  as  goddess  of  agricultural  animals.  Diana 
begins  with  a  recitative  and  a  merry  hunting  aria, 
with  suitable  horn  accompaniment.  Endymion  pro- 
tests at  being  neglected,  in  a  recitative  and  an  aria,  the 
former  of  which  contains  an  ornamental  passage  on 
the  first  syllable  of  "  Jagen"  of  almost  incredible  length. 
Diana  and  Endymion  sing  a  duet,  and  then  follow  a 
recitative  and  an  aria  for  Pan,  the  latter  of  which,  in 
spite  of  the  uninspiring  words  ''A  Prince  is  the  Pan  of 
his  country,"  is  a  very  fine  and  vigorous  movement, 
which  Bach  inserted  with  a  few  revisions  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  sacred  cantata  Also  hat  Gott  as  long  after- 
wards as  1735.  Pales  has  a  charming  shepherd-song 
with  accompaniment  of  two  flutes,  which  is  followed 


Secular  Cantatas 


33^ 


by  a  lively  chorus  and  a  duet.  The  most  interesting 
feature  in  the  whole  work  is  the  aria  for  Pales,  IVetl 
die  wollenreichen  Heerden,  in  which  the  whole  musi- 
cal material  of  the  accompaniment  of  one  of  the 
most  famous  of  Bach's  sacred  songs,  Mein  gldubiges 
Her{e  frohlocke,  in  the  same  cantata,  Also  hat  Gott, 
mentioned  above,  makes  its  appearance  with  a  solo 
voice  part  which  is  totally  different  from  that  well- 
known  melody: 

The  melody  in  "  "Was  mir  behagt." 


Weil       die       woll  -    en   -     rei   -    chen     Heer  -  den 
The  melody  in  the  Cantata  "Also  hat  Gott  die  "Welt  geliebt." 


I 


r^tt 


^Et 


-y^ — U- 


Mein  glau  -  bi  -ges    Her  -  ze,  Froh-locke, 
The  Accompaniment. 


sing  Scherze,Froh- 


m- 


■» — m—w\ w r- 


j^-, — ^ 


locke,         sing  Scher  -  ze,  Dein   Je    -     sus    ist       da. 

5^^ — ^1   I    '     ^^ to— I     '  >iini—i— — ^ ^..T-    ^ 


ZZ'^  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

The  phenomenon  of  such  an  after-thought  as  the 
ultimate  development  of  the  sacred  song  on  the  secular 
foundation,  and  an  after-thought  which  has  every 
appearance  of  spontaneity,  is  surprisingly  illuminative 
of  Bach's  tenacity  in  turning  ideas  over  in  his  mind 
and  trying  them  in  various  aspects.  The  cantata 
proceeds  with  an  air  for  Pan  and  ends  with  a  very  lively 
and  rhythmic  chorus,  with  much  horn-blowing  and 
playing  of  passages  suggestive  of  the  exuberant  liveli- 
ness of  joyous  people  going  hunting.  The  chorus 
illustrates  a  rather  exceptional  excursion  into  the 
region  of  secular  choral  music;  the  interpretation  of 
secularity  in  this  case  being  mainly  the  adoption  of  a 
franker  connection  in  the  music  with  the  metre  of  the 
poem  set,  and  a  rhythmically  homophonic  treatment 
of  the  voices.  Bach  transferred  this  last  chorus  with 
considerable  modifications  to  the  sacred  cantata  Man 
singet  mit  Freuden.  The  cantata  was  indeed  a 
conspicuous  example  of  doing  varied  service,  for 
besides  the  transfers  above  mentioned  it  was  used 
again  for  a  birthday  of  a  younger  member  of  the 
Weimar  family,  by  changing  "Christian"  into  "Ernst 
August"  wherever  it  occurred  in  the  music,  and  yet 
again  it  was  used  at  Leipzig  in  honour  of  Friedrich 
August,  King  of  Saxony. 

The  next  secular  work  of  the  kind  was  probably 
the  serenata  Durchlauchf ster  Leopold,  written  in 
honour  of  a  birthday  of  Prince  Leopold  of  Anhalt- 
Cothen  while  Bach  was  in  his  service  before  the  move 
to  Leipzig.  The  words  were  not  calculated  to  inspire 
the  composer,  as  they  are  formal  and  artificial,  but 
Bach  shows  his  sense  of  responsibility  by  artistic 
treatment.     It  is  as  though  he  made  up  his  mind  that, 


Secular  Cantatas  333 

however  dull  the  words  were,  his  share  of  the  whole 
should  be  worthy  of  him.  The  work  is  all  for  solo 
voices,  and  comprises  a  dignified  opening  recitative 
followed  by  an  elaborate  aria  for  soprano,  extremely 
florid  in  style,  and  an  aria  for  bass.  Then  come  features 
which  are  interesting  frorn  the  point  of  view  of  the 
special  line  of  work  which  occupied  him  while  he  was 
at  Cothen.  A  duet  aria  for  soprano  and  bass  is  marked 
**A1  tempo  di  minuetto,"  and  has  the  graceful  and 
pleasing  character  of  a  minuet.  It  passes  into  a  more 
vigorous  movement,  followed  by  an  ornate  recitative 
for  soprano  and  bass,  and  this  in  its  turn  by 
a  very  lively  aria  in  dance  rhythm,  after  the  man- 
ner of  a  bourree.  A  very  quaint  solo  for  bass  with 
flowing  accompaniment  for  bassoon  and  violoncello, 
and  a  fmal  duet  marked  "Chor,"  also  in  unmistak- 
able dance  rhythm,  like  a  very  tuneful  and  animated 
minuet,  complete  the  work.  The  scheme  is  admirable; 
beginning  in  a  solid  and  dignified  style  and  ending 
with  gay  and  happy  measures,  the  texture  and  treat- 
ment of  details  being  essentially  in  the  manner  Bach 
adopted  in  the  lighter  movements  of  his  suites  and 
overtures.  In  view  of  these  qualities  it  seems  singular 
that  Bach  used  nearly  all  the  movements  again  in  the 
sacred  cantata  Erhohtes  Fleisch  und  Blut  Another 
cantata  in  honour  of  Prince  Leopold,  Mit  Gnaden  he- 
krone,  remains  only  in  an  incomplete  state  in  which  it 
was  recognised  by  Spitta  in  a  private  collection.  Some 
of  it  appears  to  have  been  included  in  the  church 
cantata,  Ein  Her{  das  seinen  Jesuni  lehend  weiss,  which 
contains  some  brightlv  melodious  solos  and  a  lively 
final  chorus. 

Yet  another  cantata  of  the  same  order,  Schwingt 


334  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

freudig  euch  empor,  was  used  in  a  variety  of  capaci- 
ties. It  served  in  1726  as  a  congratulatory  cantata 
for  the  birthday  of  the  second  wife  of  Prince  Leo- 
pold, also  for  someone  else's  birthday  celebration  later. 
It  was  reconstructed  with  the  insertion  of  chorales 
as  a  church  cantata,  and  it  also  served  as  a  birthday 
cantata  for  a  popular  professor  of  the  Leipzig  Univers- 
ity, one  Johann  F.  Rivinus.  In  this  composition  there 
are  two  choruses,  one  to  begin  and  the  other  to  end  the 
work,  and  alternation  of  recitatives  and  arias  for  the 
middle  portion.  It  is  worth  noting,  in  connection  with 
the  Cothen  associations,  that  the  final  chorus  is  in  a 
dance  measure  and  style. 

One  of  the  most  important  of  these  complimentary 
cantatas  is  that  known  as  Der  Zujriedengestellte 
/^olus,  which  went  through  an  exceptionally  humor- 
ous transformation.  It  was  originally  written  in 
August,  1725,  in  honour  of  the  birthday  of  a  professor 
of  the  University  of  Leipzig  named  August  Friedrich 
Miiller.  A  little  over  eight  years  later,  at  the  beginning 
of  1734,  Bach  had  to  provide  a  cantata  in  honour  of 
the  coronation  of  Augustus  "the  Strong"  as  King  of 
Poland.  The  transfer  of  the  cantata  from  Miiller  to 
King  Augustus  was  facilitated  by  the  fact  of  their 
having  the  same  name,  *' August,"  and  the  dimensions 
and  quality  of  the  work  were  such  a  very  high  com- 
pliment to  the  former  that  it  became  more  than  amply 
adequate  to  the  titular  eminence  of  the  latter.  The 
work  is  indeed  one  of  the  most  extensive  of  Bach's 
secular  cantatas;  for  it  is  not  only  on  a  very  large 
scale — requiring  two  flutes,  two  hautboys,  two  horns, 
three  trumpets,  drums  and  strings  (including  viola 
d'amore  and  viola  da  gamba),  a  very  efficient  chorus, 


Secular  Cantatas  335 

and  several  soli  for  its  rendering — but  it  stands  high 
as  an  example  of  Bach's  copious  fancy  and  invention. 
The  first  movement,  Zerreisset,  lersprenget,  is  a  Cho- 
rus of  Winds,  with  rushing  passages  of  the  most  bril- 
liant description  for  both  instruments  and  voices. 
The  second  number  is  a  recitative  for  /Eolus  which  is 
accompanied  by  the  entire  orchestra — a  thing  which 
is  rare  in  Bach's  works.  The  realistic  suggestion  of 
the  rushing  winds  is  again  in  evidence.  The  aria 
which  follows  (also  for  /Eolus)  is  a  good  specimen  of 
Bach's  conception  of  secular  music,  being  very  rhyth- 
mic and  jovial.  /Eolus  announces  that  he  "will  laugh 
heartily"  and  the  music,  in  a  semi-humorous  manner, 
amply  confirms  the  statement. 

Aeolus. 


-V— 


t=i 


And— 

'w-  -w   -w-   -w   -m-^         -»-^ 


chen. 


gii^^^^ 


Wie  will  ich  lus-tig  la     -----         .     chen, 

A  charming  contrast  is  obtained  by  a  tender  and 
graceful  air  for  Zephyrus.  Pallas  and  Pomona  also 
take  part  in  the  discussion  in  various  admirable  recita- 
tives and  arias,!  and  the  work  is  completed  by   the 

'  The  aria  allotted  to  Pomona  was  transferred  later  to  the 
sacred  cantata  Gott  wie  dein  Name. 


zz^ 


Johann  Sebastian  Bach 


jovial  chorus  "Vivat  August,"  which  in  its  direct 
rhythmic  vigour  seems  to  be  akin  to  LulH,  a  kinship 
which  is  not  diminished  by  the  excellent  effect  of 
interchanging  groups  of  three  and  two  bars. 

Yet  another  cantata,  Vereinigte  Zwietracht,  was 
written  in  honour  of  a  Professor  of  the  Leipzig  Uni- 
versity, Gottlieb  Kortte  in  1726.  In  this  case  the 
work  goes  by  the  name  of  a  ''Dramma  per  Musica." 
It  begins  with  a  march,  which  suggests  the  merry 
pretence  of  solemn  processioning  of  students  to  pay 
their  compliments  to  the  professor.  The  music  has  a 
whimsically  innocent  air  which  recalls  both  LuUi  and 
Purcell.  Bach  probably  knew  very  little  of  the  instru- 
mental music  of  either  of  them,  but  the  manner  in 
which  kindred  impulses  beget  kindred  results  is  shown 
by  comparison  of  the  opening  bars  of  Bach's  march 
with  those  of  Lulli's  march  in  "Theseus." 


Thkseus.     Trumpet. 


^ 


:^4==^ 


rEXEl 


Bach.    Trumpet  In  D. 


;^s 


;Ee: 


•=f££r-: 


t=i=t 


:t=: 


The  march  is  succeeded  by  a  very  lively  chorus,  which 
calls  the  students  to  mind  again.  It  is  a  singularly 
apt  example  of  Bach's  characteristic  transferences,  as 
the  movement  is  devised  by  adding  voice  parts  to  the 
third  movement  of  the  first   Brandenburg  concerto. 


Secular  Cantatas  337 

A  set  of  soloists  take  their  turns  in  the  capacities  of  the 
personified  abstractions,  "  Industry,"  "  Honour,"  "  Hap- 
piness," and  "Thankfulness,"  and  the  work  ends  with  a 
robustly  straightforward  chorus  which  is  homophonic 
almost  throughout,  and  has  a  very  hearty  tune,  in 
which  Professor  Kortte  is  wished  long  life  and  health. 


Kort  .  te       le  -  be, Kort  -         -         -      te     blu  -  he, 


In  this  case  Bach's  personal  sentiments  must  have 
been  much  more  genuinely  engaged  than  in  the  com- 
plimentary cantatas  to  grandees.  He  seems  to  have 
entered  into  the  spirit  of  the  occasion  heartily,  and 
the  music  is  frank,  fresh,  and  unsophisticated,  expres- 
sive of  such  secular  joviality  as  would  be  inevitable 
on  an  occasion  when  young  members  of  a  university 
did  honour  to  an  esteemed  professor.  A  great  part 
of  this  cantata  was  used  again  in  a  "Nameday"  can- 
tata for  King  August,  with  the  words  Auj,  schmet- 
ternde  Tone. 

In  1733  Bach  had  several  times  to  produce  secular 
choral  works  for  complimentary  occasions.  Die 
JVahl  des  Hercules,  which  was  composed  for  the 
birthday  of  an  electoral  prince,  stands  out  in  marked 
contrast  to  the  foregoing.  Here  Bach  was  confronted 
with  a  scheme  fatuous  enough  to  extinguish  the  most 
ardent  inspiration.  The  petty  rulers  of  parts  of  Ger- 
many, taking  Louis  XIV.  as  their  model  in  such  matters, 
had  grown  so  accustomed  to  their  subjects  literally 
grovelling  before  them  on  state  occasions  that  to  have 
omitted  to  compare  them  with  gods  and  goddesses  of 


33^  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

ancient  times  would  have  been  quite  a  gross  breach  of 
good  manners,  and  a  manifest  neglect  of  what  was  due 
to  social  superiors.  Everyone  was  quite  aware  in  the 
secret  recesses  of  his  mind,  where  truth  always  keeps 
a  dim  and  tranquil  light,  that  it  was  all  silly  pretence 
and  folly.  The  court  trick  is  to  disguise  such  things 
by  the  cleverness  with  which  they  are  presented; 
to  gloss  the  conventional  by  the  intermixture  of  the 
lively  play  of  mental  dexterities;  to  show  the  expert's 
skill  in  what  may  be  regarded  as  the  purely  ornamental 
part  of  social  intercourse.  Bach  had  not  led  the  life 
which  gave  him  any  key  to  such  a  kind  of  existence. 
It  may  be  admitted  that  when  he  addressed  communi- 
cations to  grandees  he  duly  abased  himself  even  unto 
the  ground  in  accordance  with  the  unwritten  law 
of  his  time,  but  that  was  not  an  attitude  which  he 
could  adopt  in  music  with  any  hope  of  doing  himself 
justice.  The  course  which  he  ultimately  took  in  the 
latter  part  of  his  life  was  as  surprising  as,  in  a  sense, 
it  was  heroic.  He  seems  to  have  shut  his  eyes  to  the 
actual  verbiage,  and  to  the  futile  flummery  of  transpar- 
ently ridiculous  flattery  which  the  verbiage  expressed, 
and  to  have  gone  to  the  root  of  the  conceptions,  the 
ultimate  primal  abstract  sentiment  which  underlay 
the  accumulated  rubbish  of  courtly  convention.  The 
course  pursued  in  previous  cantatas  has  shown  the 
tendencies  of  his  gravitation.  Many  movements  set  to 
secular  words  had,  possibly  accidentally,  proved  quite 
fit  to  be  associated  with  sacred  words  and  embodied 
in  sacred  works.  Die  JVahl  des  Hercules  almost 
suggests  that  he  here  awoke  to  the  full  consciousness 
of  the  course  which  was  best  for  him  to  follow  in  order 
to  safeguard  the  sincerity  of  his  art.    His  course  was 


Secular  Cantatas  339 

to  merge  the  individual  in  the  universal,  the  practical 
in  the  ideal. 

The  root  idea  of  the  poem  is  the  indecision  of  the 
youthful  Hercules  whether  to  choose  "Wollust'*  or 
"Tugend"  as  the  object  of  his  life.  They  are,  of  course, 
personified,  and  sing  recitatives  and  arias  to  display 
to  him  the  respective  advantages  they  have  to  offer. 
Hercules  consults  "Echo,"  whose  responses  are  in 
favour  of  "Tugend,"  and  then  Mercury  announces 
that  Hercules  is  really  no  other  than  their  Crown 
Prince  Friedrich,  who  is  going  to  adopt  "Tugend," 
and  all  that  is  necessary  further  is  for  the  chorus, 
representing  the  public,  to  express  their  high  appre- 
ciation of  his  decision  and  their  good  will.  The 
musical  scheme  consists  of  an  opening  chorus,  a 
succession  of  vocal  solos  and  duets,  and  a  fmal  cho- 
rus. The  opening  chorus  is  quietly  contemplative  in 
a  manner  suggesting  the  frame  of  mind  induced  by 
the  thought  of  youth  and  its  infinite  variety  of  physical 
and  spiritual  possibilities — youth  that  may  expand  into 
a  glorious  future— youth  that  may  be  cut  ofF  before  its 
prime — ^youth  that  may  be  destined  for  suffering  or  for 
joy.  It  does  not  particularly  matter  about  this  Prince 
Friedrich.  What  will  do  for  youth  in  the  abstract  as  it 
presents  itself  to  the  contemplative  mind  will  do  for  him. 
So  Bach  has  written  a  very  quiet  and  serious  chorus  to 
the  words  Lasst  uns  sorgen,  lasst  uns  wachen  iiher 
unsern  Gottes  Sohn,  it  being  of  no  consequence  whether 
they  referred  histrionically  to  Hercules,  or  immediately 
(as  is  inferred  in  the  figurative  procedure)  to  the  young 
Prince  Friedrich.  The  chorus  expresses  a  sentiment 
which  in  itself  is  admirable,  and  expresses  it  admirably. 
So  when,  in  the  following  year.  Bach  was  preparing  his 


340  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

*'Weihnachts-Oratorium/' this  chorus,  with  the  words 
changed  to  FalU  mil  Danken,  jallt  mil  Lohen  vor 
des  Hochsten  Gnaden  Thron,  was  placed  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  fourth  part.  It  may  be  worth  point- 
ing out  in  passing  that  the  work,  written  for  the 
birthday  of  a  young  prince  (who,  in  theory  at  least, 
was  worthy  of  the  highest  love  and  reverence), 
naturally  suggests  aptness  of  transference  to  the 
Weihnachts-Fest,  especially  with  people  who  were 
disposed  to  emphasise  the  human  side  of  the  Christ- 
ideal  rather  than  the  Godhead.  But  more  arrest- 
ing than  any  other  movement  in  the  work  is  the 
exquisite  slumber  song,  Schlaje,  mein  Liehster  und 
pflege  der  Ruh,  which  is  put  into  the  mouth  of  Wollust. 
Here  the  ideal  is  manifest.  Bach  is  not  thinking  of  the 
individual  instance,  but  of  the  general  conception  of 
the  slumber  song  by  the  cot  of  an  innocent  child  in  all 
its  beauty  of  sentiment.  The  ideal  conception  in  this 
case  laid  hold  of  him  in  its  fullest  force  and  it  bore 
fruit  in  some  of  the  most  exquisitely  tender  and 
touching  music  he  ever  produced.  So,  when  at  work 
on  the  same  "Weihnachts-Oratorium"  above  men- 
tioned, the  movement  was  transferred  to  represent  the 
slumber  song  at  the  manger-cot  of  the  Holy  Babe. 
And  in  that  capacity  it  has  become  one  of  the  best 
known  of  all  Bach's  solo  songs. 

The  procedure  so  indicated  was  followed  with  most 
of  the  movements  in  the  IVahl  des  Hercules.  The 
song  in  which  Hercules  takes  counsel  with  Echo 
becomes  Flosst,  mein  Heiland  in  the  Weihnachts-Ora- 
torium;  Virtue's  song  Auj  meinen  Fliigeln  is  trans- 
ferred to  the  same  work  as  Ich  will  nur  dir  {u  Ehren 
leben;    the   song  of  Hercules  addressed  to  Wollust, 


Secular  Cantatas  341 

Ich  will  dich  nicht  horen,  becomes  the  well-known 
Bereite  dich  Zion,  and  the  tender  duet  between 
Hercules  and  Virtue,  Ich  bin  deine,  ich  kusse  dich, 
etc.,  becomes  Herr  dein  Mitleid.  There  only  remains  the 
last  chorus,  which  is  just  a  lively  expression  of  good 
will  to  the  young  prince  such  as  was  inevitable  on  such 
a  complimentary  occasion,  in  which  case  the  individual 
could  not  be  so  easily  merged  in  a  type,  and  the  chorus 
is  founded  on  a  gavotte  rhythm  and  quite  frankly 
metrical,  so  this  one  movement  was  inapt  to  be  trans- 
ferred to  the  sacred  work. 

Considering  that  the  "Weihnachts-Oratorium'' 
was  produced  such  a  short  time  after  the  compliment- 
ary Wahl  des  Hercules,  it  is  just  conceivable  that 
the  order  in  which  secular  and  sacred  words  have  gen- 
erally been  inferred  to  have  been  attached  to  the  music 
was,  at  least  in  some  numbers,  really  reversed.  It  is 
dimly  possible  that  Bach  had  written  some  of  the 
numbers  for  the  ''Weihnachts-Oratorium"  earlier,  and, 
having  then  to  produce  a  complimentary  cantata  for 
the  court  people,  had  used  up  some  of  the  movements 
intended  for  the  sacred  oratorio — as  it  were,  by  the 
way.  It  is  not  as  if  the  complimentary  work  could  be 
frequently  performed;  it  fulfilled  an  essentially  momen- 
tary function  and  was  done  with.  If  Bach  had  inserted 
music  to  different — even  divergent — words  in  composi- 
tions which  were  likely  to  be  performed  again  and 
again,  the  procedure  would  be  questionable  and  the 
result  most  probably  disagreeable.  But  the  offering 
for  a  birthday  of  a  royal  prince  is  probably  only  half 
listened  to  when  it  is  performed,  and  it  is  put  aside 
if  it  cannot  serve  for  any  other  purpose.  So  if  Bach 
did  write  the  music  for  some  of  the  movements  of  the 


342  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

"  Weihnachts-Oratorium  "  first,  he  was  taking  a  per- 
fectly intelligible  course  in  embodying  them  in  a  royal 
birthday  ode,  more  especially  as  his  treatment  of  the 
sentiments  involved  was  so  wide  as  to  have  general 
rather  than  individual  application. 

The  case  is  almost  identical  with  the  fine  "Dramma 
per  Musica,"  which  Bach  wrote  in  honour  of  the 
birthday  of  the  Queen  of  Saxony,  which  was  kept  on 
December  8,  1733.  The  strong  and  jubilant  first 
chorus,  Tonet,  ihr  Pauken,  readily  transfers  its  joyful 
exuberance  to  the  first  chorus  of  the  "Weihnachts- 
Oratorium,"  with  the  words  '' Jauchzet,  frohlocket"; 
the  middle  part  of  the  chorus,  which  is  specialised  in 
the  secular  version  by  the  words  Konigin  lebe!  dies 
wiinschet  der  Sachse,  becomes  in  the  sacred  version 
Dienet  dem  Hochsten  mil  herrlichen  Choren. 

The  aria  Fromme  Musen!  meine  Glieder,  which 
is  put  into  the  mouth  of  Pallas  in  the  congratulatory 
cantata,  becomes  Frohe  Hirten,  eilt  in  the  '*Weih- 
nachts-Oratorium."  The  bold  and  strenuous  tune 
Kron  und  Preis  gekronter  Damen,  which  is  given  to 
Fame  in  the  secular  cantata,  becomes  Grosser  Herr 
und  starker  K'onig,  and  admirably  fulfils  its  function ; 
and  the  final  chorus,  not  having  a  dance  rhythm  in 
this  case,  is  sufficiently  serious  in  style  in  spite  of  its 
jubilance  to  serve  as  the  first  chorus  of  the  third  part 
of  the  "Weihnachts-Oratorium,''  with  the  words 
Herrscher  des  Himmels  erhore  das  Lallen. 

In  the  following  year,  1734,  further  royal  visits  to 
Leipzig  entailed  further  complimentary  cantatas.  In 
October  Bach  had  to  supply  a  work  of  this  kind,  and, 
it  is  said,  in  the  space  of  three  days.  The  first  chorus 
is  a  most  brilliant  example  of  his  writing  for  two  choirs. 


Secular  Cantatas  343 

to  the  words  Preise  dein  Glucke  gesegnetes  Sachsen, 
and  this,  with  modifications,  makes  its  appearance  as 
the  Osanna  in  the  B  minor  Mass.  It  is  impossible 
to  say  whether  it  was  originally  written  for  the  com- 
plimentary cantata  for  the  King;  it  seems  highly 
improbable.  Another  movement  in  the  work,  the 
aria  Durch  die  von  Eijer  entflammeten  Waff  en  for 
soprano,  makes  its  appearance  also  in  the  "Weih- 
nachts-Oratorium"  as  the  bass  aria  ErleuM  auch 
meine  finstre  Sinnen. 

Yet  another  work  on  a  still  larger  scale,  Schleicht, 
spielende  Wellen,  was  produced  in  honour  of  the 
birthday  of  King  Augustus  in  the  same  month  of  this 
year.  In  this  case  Bach  appears  to  have  been  ready 
beforehand^  and  the  work  is  on  an  imposing  scale. 
The  poetic  scheme  is  that  the  various  personified 
rivers  of  Germany,  such  as  the  Danube,  the  Vistula, 
the  Elbe,  and  the  Pleisse,  hold  discourse  and  glorify 
the  King.  The  work  is  on  the  usual  lines  with  chorus 
at  beginning  and  end  and  solos  occupying  the  whole 
of  the  middle  part.  In  this  case  Bach  does  not  seem 
to  have  used  the  material  in  other  works,  though,  in- 
deed, it  is  not  excessively  secular  in  style;  but  the 
words  are  too  decisively  localised  to  be  available  for  a 
general  performance. 

A  secular  cantata,  Angenehmes  Wiederau,  written 
for  the  occasion  when  a  certain  Count  Johann  Chris- 
tian von  Hennicke  received  homage  from  a  place  called 
Widerau  in  1737,  had  a  somewhat  diiferent  destiny. 
The  words  were  written  by  Picander,  and  contained 
parts  for  Fate,  Happiness,  Time,  and  the  River  Elster. 
In  this  case  Bach  seems  to  have  been  fortunate  in  the 
impulse  given  him  by  the  words,  for  the  work  contains 


344  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

some  purely  delightful  music.  The  first  chorus,  which 
by  the  way  serves  also  to  conclude  the  work,  is  one 
of  the  most  tuneful  things  he  ever  wrote  of  the  kind. 
Several  of  the  solos  are  fine,  and  one  especially,  Ich 
will  dich  halien,  is  among  Bach's  most  notable  bass 
arias.  The  music  was  afterwards  transformed  almost 
entirely  into  the  cantata  for  St.  John's  Day,  Freue 
Dich,  erloste  Schaar,  with  expansion  of  the  recitatives, 
especially  that  before  the  bass  solo,  which  is  quite 
superb,  and  fuller  instrumentation,  and  a  chorale 
at  the  end  of  its  first  half.  The  joyous  tune  of  the 
principal  chorus  fits  with  extraordinary  aptness  to  the 
words,  though,  strange  to  say,  in  this  case  it  is,  for 
Bach,  exceptionally  secular  in  style. 

Bach  is  known  to  have  produced  still  further  com- 
plimentary works  for  similar  occasions,  but  they  have 
been  lost.  He  also  had  occasionally  to  write  music 
for  weddings.  One  of  these,  Weichet  nur,  betriibte 
Schatten,  was  probably  written  before  the  Leipzig 
time.  It  consists  of  a  series  of  recitatives  and  arias 
for  soprano  solo,  the  last  of  which  is  a  gavotte.  Some 
of  the  materials  were  used  again,  for  instance  in  the 
sonata  No  VI.  for  violin  and  clavier,  in  which  a  subject 
from  one  of  the  arias  makes  its  appearance.  Another 
wedding  cantata,  written  much  later,  indeed  near 
the  end  of  his  life,  was  0  holder  Tag,  erwiinschte 
Zeit  It  is  a  work  of  exceptional  beauty,  rich  in  all 
the  resources  of  art,  and  delicate  in  feeling,  com- 
prising four  highly  developed  and  melodious  arias 
for  soprano  voice,  all  fully  accompanied,  and  some  fine 
recitatives.  Bach  evidently  made  this  work  serve  in 
other  capacities,  as  it  is  found  also,  with  another  set- 
ting of  words  beginning  0   angenehme  Melodei,  but 


Secular  Cantatas  345 

unfortunately  this  does  not  relieve  it  of  the  dis- 
ability of  referring  to  special  occasions,  as  the  names 
of  the  people  in  whose  honour  it  was  used  occur 
in  it. 

One  other  secular  cantata,  of  such  a  peculiar  char- 
acter that  it  stands  out  from  all  the  rest,  is  the  so-called 
"Bauern  Cantata,"  '' Mer  halm  en  neue  Oberkeet." 
It  was  written  in  1742  in  connection  with  the  recep- 
tion of  allegiance  by  one  von  Dieskau  as  "Gutsherr"  of 
Klein-Ischocher  in  Saxony.  The  poem  is  in  a  burlesque 
vein  and  refers  to  rustic  gaieties,  which  Bach  interprets 
by  adopting  a  pronounced  rustic  vein  in  the  music. 
It  has  an  introduction  for  violin,  viola,  and  bass,  in 
which  several  rustic  tunes  are  knit  together  after  a 
fashion  which  in  later  times  would  have  been  called  a 
potpourri.  There  is  no  pretence  of  development  or 
artistic  treatment,  and  the  tunes  tumble  into  one 
another  in  a  perfectly  irresponsible  and  incoherent 
manner  which  implies  that  the  movement  was  a  joke. 
The  whole  work,  which  is  for  various  solo  voices  with 
instrumental  accompaniment,  is  carried  out  in  the 
same  merry  spirit.  There  are  two  well  developed 
arias  which,  for  the  time,  pass  out  of  the  region 
of  pure  peasant  tunes,  but  even  they  have  a  frank 
lilt  which  is  very  engaging,  and  of  these  one  is 
borrowed  from  the  Cantata  "  Phoebus  and  Pan,"  being 
no  less,  indeed,  than  Pan's  own  trial  song.  For  the 
rest  the  movements  are  based  on  merry  country 
tunes,  some  of  which  are  known  as  folk-songs  to  the 
present  day,  some  of  which  are  also  in  dance  rhythms. 
Bach  occasionally  touches  on  the  province  of  humor- 
ous music,  as  in  the  delightfully  frank  tune  which  con- 
stitutes the  fmal  duet  IVir  gehn  mm  wo  der  Tudelsack, 


346 


Johann  Sebastian  Bach 


der    Tiidel-Tudel-Tudel-Tudel-sack,  in   unsrer   Schenke 
brummt. 


Wir     gehn      nun      wo       der       Tu  -     del  -  sack,     der 


Tu-del  tu-  del-  tu-  del-tu-  del  -  tu  -  del  -  tu  -  del-sack       in 


rer       schen  -     ke 


meint. 


It  suggests  the  inference  that  he  had  assimilated 
plenty  of  folk-songs  into  his  musical  personality  and 
when  they  were  wanted  they  readily  presented  them- 
selves without  showing  any  lack  of  consistency. 

There  are  a  few  secular  cantatas  which  were  not 
originated  by  the  requirements  of  special  occasions 
of  compliment.  The  most  important  of  these  is 
"The  Contest  between  Phoebus  and  Pan,"  referred 
to  above.  The  words  were  by  Picander,  with 
whom  Bach  so  frequently  collaborated  in  the  Leip- 
zig time,  and  it  appears  to  have  been  performed 
in  the  year  173 1  by  the  Leipzig  Musical  Society. 
In  this  work  is  probably  presented  Bach's  view  of 
secular  music  undisturbed  by  the  conflicting  claims 
of  ceremony,  and  it  also  affords  glimpses  into  his 
personal  attitude  in  relation  to  subjects  chosen  for 
musical  treatment.  The  conception  is  a  happy  one  in 
that  respect.  Phoebus  and  Pan  dispute  over  their 
respective  pre-eminence  in  music.  The  former  treats 
the  latter's  presumption  with   lofty  contempt,   and 


Secular  Cantatas  347 

Pan  points  out  the  influence  of  his  music  on  the  nymphs 
and  the  denizens  of  the  woodlands.  They  each  give 
samples  of  their  art:  Phoebus  in  a  slow,  melodious, 
and  very  serious  song,  which  has  something  of  the 
feeling  of  a  sarabande;  Pan  in  his  turn  sings  a  brisk, 
jaunty  air,  much  of  which  is  in  a  humorous  vein,  even 
suggestive  of  Beckmesser  in  the  reiteration  of  a  quaintly 
silly  figure  in  the  accompaniment,  and  the  absurd 
device  of  reiterating  part  of  the  first  syllable  of  the 
word  "wackelt,"  in  the  form  of  "wack-ack-ack-ack," 
etc.,  on  a  high  note  which,  no  doubt,  has  kinship 
to  a  laughing  syllable,  or  rather  is  an  exaggeration 
of  that  procedure.  The  verification  of  this  kinship 
is  in  fact  supplied,  for  when  Bach  transferred  this 
song  to  the  "  Bauern  Cantata"  (for  which  its  rusticity 
befitted  it)  the  syllable  used  for  comic  reiteration  was 
the  first  of  the  word  'Tachen."  Tmolus  and  Mydas 
act  respectively  as  auasi-counsel  for  each  party,  and 
each  sings  a  song. 

Mydas's  contention  in  favour  of  Pan  meets  with 
wrathful  contempt  on  the  part  of  Mercury,  Phoebus, 
and  Momus,  who  advise  him  to  take  his  donkey's  ears 
back  into  the  woods,  while  Momus  advises  Phoebus  to 
"grasp  his  lyre  again,"  for  "nothing  is  more  lovesome 
than  his  song."  The  whole  work  is  rounded  off  by 
choruses  at  opening  and  close;  both  of  them  in  six 
parts,  both  directly  and  simply  melodious,  and  both 
of  them  in  aria  form.  Except  in  the  humorous  parts 
the  style  of  the  work  does  not  really  differ  much  from 
the  style  of  the  church  cantatas.  The  choruses,  it  is 
true,  are  not  so  elaborate  in  texture  as  in  the  sacred 
compositions,  and  are  more  simply  harmonised,  but 
the  arias  of  the  more  serious  characters  are  quite  of  the 


348  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

serious  cast;  indeed,  it  may  be  admitted  that  they  are 
in  too  serious  a  vein  and  too  lengthily  developed  for  a 
secular  work  of  this  kind.  They  overweight  the  work 
and  even  make  it  wearisome.  The  scheme  is  also  the 
same  as  that  of  most  of  the  church  cantatas,  lack- 
ing only  the  characteristic  feature  of  the  chorales. 
With  reference  to  Bach's  personal  attitude  in  this 
work  it  must  be  admitted  that  he  no  doubt  had  in 
his  mind  in  the  person  of  Mydas,  a  reference  to  an 
actual  individual,  one  Scheibe,  who  had  a  grudge 
against  Bach  and  had  written  some  galling  remarks 
about  him. 

A  cantata  on  a  considerable  scale,  which  displays 
more  of  a  definitely  comic  musical  mood,  is  that 
known  as  the  Kaffee  Cantata  (Bach  spelled  it  Coffe), 
beginning  with  the  words  Schweigt  stille,  plaudert 
mcht.  It  has  reference  to  the  growing  appreciation 
of  coffee,  which  at  that  time  was  a  comparative  novelty, 
but  had  become  very  popular  and  was  in  some 
quarters  considered  injurious  to  health.  The  subject 
of  the  work  is  the  disapproval  of  father  Schlendrian  of 
his  daughter's  taste  for  it,  and  his  determination  to 
break  her  of  it,  which  culminates  in  a  threat  that  she 
shall  not  marry  till  she  gives  it  up,  to  which  she  suc- 
cumbs. But  she  in  turn  gets  the  better  of  the  argument 
by  causing  it  to  be  known  that  no  suitor  is  likely  to  be 
acceptable  to  her  unless  he  will  allow  her  to  have  her 
coffee.  The  material  is  very  slender,  but  Bach  makes 
merry  with  it  in  a  series  of  recitatives  and  arias  which 
are  happily  characteristic  of  the  personalities  of  the  dis- 
putants; and  the  work  concludes  with  a  lively  trio  quite 
in  a  folk-tune  style.  In  this  case  there  are  lightness 
and  merriment  enough  to  sustain  the  secular  character. 


Secular  Cantatas  349 

Bach  also  wrote  a  few  secular  cantatas  for  single 
solo  voices  at  various  times,  analogous  to  the  Italian 
cantatas  a  voce  sola.  Indeed,  he  actually  wrote 
three  cantatas  to  Italian  words,  one  of  which,  for 
soprano  solo,  is  lost.  Another,  Armore  iraditore,  for 
bass  voice  accompanied  by  harpsichord,  is  rather  an 
unusual  phenomenon,  as  most  of  the  cantatas  a  voce 
sola  were  written  with  accompaniment  of  'cello  and  fig- 
ured bass;  but  in  the  last  movement  of  this  cantata 
Bach  gives  a  full  and  elaborate  harpsichord  accompani- 
ment, in  which  a  rapid,  broken  arpeggio  figure  plays 
a  very  important  part.  The  figure  itself  is  rather  com- 
monplace but  bustling  and  animated.  It  is,  indeed, 
like  everything  else  in  the  cantata,  influenced  by  the 
Italian  words.  A  composer  of  Bach's  fine  sensibility 
is  almost  bound  to  be  influenced  by  the  associations  of 
the  words  he  sets,  both  in  style,  texture,  and  phrase- 
ology. The  fact  may  be  set  aside  as  comparatively 
unimportant,  that  the  musical  melodic  phraseology  is 
developed  in  close  association  with  characteristics  of 
language,  which  causes  all  genuine  lyrical  music  what- 
ever, when  sung  to  translations  from  the  language 
with  which  the  composer  originally  associated  it,  to 
labour  under  almost  irremediable  disabilities.  But  the 
fact  that  a  composer  hears  all  languages  constantly 
associated  with  particular  types  of  melodic  formulas, 
particular  procedures  of  harmony,  and  a  certain  rather 
limited  range  of  musical  figures,  makes  it  almost  im- 
possible for  him  in  setting  foreign  words  to  escape  the 
usual  musical  concomitants  of  those  words  if  he  has  at 
any  time  been  familiar  with  them.  Moreover  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  avoid  the  importunity  of  the  inference  that  Bach 
wrote  this  cantata  just  as  he  copied   out  such  Italian 


350  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

works  as  Lotti's  Mass  in  G  minor,  mainly  with  the  view 
of  enhancing  his  own  artistic  efficiency.  1 1  is  quite  possi- 
ble that  self-criticism  may  have  made  him  feel  that  at 
times  his  highly  wrought  artistic  instinct  induced  an 
overloading  of  texture  and  an  uncompromising  strain 
of  melodic  independence  which  tended  at  unguarded 
moments  to  become  crabbed.  He  was  also  certainly 
aware  that  the  Italians  erred  conspicuously  in  the 
direction  of  easy  grace  and  smoothness,  and  that 
practice  in  their  style  might  be  a  possible  mitigator  of 
angularity  and  of  the  ungracious  assertion  of  his  per- 
sonality in  unsuitable  places.  His  attitude  in  this 
matter  illustrates  most  happily  the  largeness  of  his 
nature  and  the  genuine  devotion  which  kept  him  al- 
ways awake  to  possibilities  of  enriching  his  artistic 
powers  and  making  his  work  more  perfect.  In  this 
way  he  became  one  of  the  most  notable  examples  of 
those  types  of  humanity  who  go  on  learning  to  the  end 
of  their  days,  and  a  confirmation  of  the  fact  that 
when  a  man  has  surpassed  all  his  fellow  men  he  can 
still  learn  something  from  them  if  he  is  not  blinded  by 
self-complacency. 

The  third  Italian  cantata,  Non  sa  che  sia  dolore, 
for  soprano  solo  with  accompaniment  of  strings  and 
flute,  was  written  for  a  different  purpose,  as  it  is 
inferred  to  have  had  special  reference  to  the  Italian 
tastes  which  were  predominant  at  the  court  of  the 
Margrave  of  Anspach.  It  is  a  work  on  a  large  scale, 
with  a  very  long  sinfonia  for  instruments  at  the  begin- 
ning, which  is  graceful  and  flowing  without  any  strong 
incisiveness  of  character.  It  has  the  peculiarity  of 
being  in  the  aria  form  without  having  an  aria  style. 
The  rest  of  the  work  consists  of  two  recitatives  and 


Secular  Cantatas  351 

two  very  long  arias,  all  of  which  have  something  of  an 
Italian  flavour,  though  the  texture  of  the  accompani- 
ments is  richer  than  any  Italian  composer  could  have 
made  it.  It  is  not  intrinsically  very  interesting  or 
characteristic,  but  from  the  point  of  view  of  workman- 
ship worthy  of  the  master  hand. 

Of  secular  Cantatas  there  only  remains  to  be  men- 
tioned a  German  cantata  for  soprano  voice,  J^on  der 
Vergnilgsamkeit,  beginning  with  the  words,  "Ich  bin  in 
mir  vergniigt,"  which  is  on  the  plan  of  the  Italian  cantata 
a  voce  sola.  It  consists  of  four  recitatives  and  four  arias, 
the  third  recitative  being  developed,  after  a  frequent 
practice  of  Bach's^  into  an  arioso.  The  arias  and  one 
of  the  recitatives  are  accompanied  by  a  small  orches- 
tra, which  is  employed  in  the  same  manner  as  in  the 
solos  of  the  church  cantatas,  and  the  style  is  in  the 
main  quite  as  serious  as  these  works.  It  seems  likely, 
as  Spitta  suggests,  that  it  was  written  for  Anna 
Magdalena. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  ORATORIOS 

The  custom  of  dwelling  upon  the  incidents  com- 
memorated at  certain  festivals  and  seasons  of  the 
Church  and  enhancing  their  impression  on  the  minds 
of  worshippers  by  music  and  simple  histrionic  devices, 
was  traditionally  followed  in  the  Lutheran  Church 
at  Christmas  time  and  at  Easter  and  on  Ascension 
Day,  as  well  as  in  Passion  week;  and  among  the  latest 
of  Bach's  choral  works  on  a  large  scale  are  those  known 
as  the  "Weihnachts-Oratorium,"  or  Christmas  orato- 
rio, the  Easter  oratorio,  and  the  Ascension  oratorio, 
which  were  composed  for  those  occasions.  They  none 
of  them  accord  with  the  usual  conception  of  the  term 
oratorio,  which  is  most  commonly  associated  with 
such  types  as  those  of  Handel  and  Mendelssohn,  and 
implies  something  of  a  dramatic  character  and  an  or- 
ganically developed  plot. 

The  Christmas  oratorio,  which  is  by  far  the  largest 
of  the  three,  cannot  be  said  to  have  any  dramatic 
development  at  all.  The  incidents  and  facts  have  no 
cumulative  interest,  but  rather  the  reverse,  for  those 
which  are  of  deepest  interest  come  in  the  earlier  por- 
tion of  the  work,  and  the  story  merely  goes  on  to  the 
point  which  is  commemorated  in  the  festival  when  the 

352 


The  Oratorios  353 

performance  takes  place,  and  then  leaves  oflF.  More- 
over, the  work  dnTers  more  conspicuously  from  most 
familiar  types  of  oratorio  in  other  respects,  inasmuch 
as  it  was  not  intended  to  be  performed  all  at  once,  but 
was  divided  into  six  portions,  each  of  which  was  to  be 
performed  on  a  different  day,  beginning  on  Christmas 
Day  and  ending  on  Epiphany.  It  follows  that  each 
of  the  six  portions  was  a  self-contained  and  complete 
art-work;  and  such  unity  as  there  is  in  the  whole  lies 
in  the  continuity  of  the  story,  and  in  the  composer's 
having  adopted  musical  expedients  which  gave  to  the 
receptive  mind  the  impression  of  consistency. 

The  type  is  evidently  unique,  and  its  full  effect  is 
obtainable  only  when  the  work  is  actually  performed 
under  the  conditions  for  which  it  is  most  subtly  devised. 
In  a  very  diverse  sphere  of  art  it  resembles  Wagner's 
fourfold  ''Ring  des  Nibelungen,"  in  which  each  of  the 
four  works  is  a  complete  work  of  art  and  yet  each 
of  the  three  earlier  works  leads  on  to  its  successor, 
and  the  fourth  is  dependent  on  what  has  gone  before 
it  for  its  intelligibility.  The  object  of  the  Christmas 
oratorio  is  to  keep  the  worshippers'  minds  occupied 
with  the  successive  events  commemorated  through  the 
whole  Christmas  season  and  make  them  ponder  well 
upon  them  by  the  suggestive  thoughts  and  reflec- 
tions which  are  appended.  The  methods  adopted 
are  the  same  as  those  in  Bach's  examples  of  Passion 
music.  The  tenor  soloist  who  takes  the  part  of  the 
Evangelist  tells  each  incident  simply  in  recitative, 
and  a  succession  of  reflections  and  thoughts  suggested 
by  it  are  embodied  in  arias,  ariosos,  chorales,  even 
passages  of  chorus,  which  occupy  a  great  deal  more 
space  than  the  narrative. 

83 


354  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

Each  part  covers  but  a  small  portion  of  the  story. 
In  the  first  day's  portion  the  Evangelist  has  but  two 
recitatives:  the  first  relating  the  coming  of  Joseph  of 
Nazareth  to  Bethlehem  in  Judea  with  Mary,  and  the 
second  the  birth  of  the  child;  and  the  rest  of  the  nine 
movements  consist  of  the  opening  chorus  expressing 
the  joy  of  Christmas  time,  and  the  various  arias  and 
other  movements  which  supply  poetic  commentaries, 
ending  with  a  chorale. 

The  procedure  is  the  same  throughout.  The  second 
portion  turns  on  the  announcement  of  the  birth  to  the 
shepherds,  and  the  heavenly  host  praising  God.  The 
third  tells  how  the  shepherds  came  and  found  Mary 
and  Joseph,  and  the  babe  lying  in  the  manger.  The 
fourth  refers  to  the  Circumcision,  and  to  the  naming 
of  the  child,  as  had  been  foretold  by  the  angel.  The 
fifth  tells  how  the  wise  men  from  the  East  came  to 
Jerusalem  asking  where  was  the  newly  born  King 
of  the  Jews,  and  how  King  Herod  was  alarmed  and 
took  counsel  with  the  high  priests;  and  the  sixth  and 
last  relates  how  the  wise  men  were  guided  by  the  star 
and  brought  their  offerings  to  the  humble  manger- 
side,  and  that  being  warned  in  a  dream  not  to  reveal 
to  Herod  where  they  had  found  the  child,  they  returned 
to  their  own  country — and  here  the  story,  or  rather  the 
series  of  episodes,  comes  to  an  end. 

It  must  be  obvious  that  such  a  scheme  would  be 
impossible  but  for  the  sacredness  with  which  the 
episodes  are  invested,  and  the  depth  of  sentiment 
which  is  stirred  by  mere  reference  to  incidents  con- 
nected with  the  birth  of  Christ. 

It  is  not  the  mere  bald  statement  of  each  incident, 
but  its  copious  implications  and  the  manner  in  which 


The  Oratorios  355 

it  seems  to  set  the  imagination  expanding  in  all  direc- 
tions, which  give  such  initiatory  vitality  to  the 
scheme,  and  it  is  in  expanding  and  vitalising  these 
implications  and  workings  of  the  imagination  by  the 
power  of  music  that  Bach's  genius  reveals  itself.  And 
there  are  but  few  situations  which  throw  more  light 
on  the  sphere  of  the  artist  and  the  individual  dis- 
position of  John  Sebastian  Bach.  Primitive  and 
undeveloped  minds  invest  the  incidents  in  the  lives  of 
human  beings  who  excite  their  imagination  and  cause 
an  exaltation  of  their  faculties,  with  a  vast  tribute  of 
miracle  and  mystery.  It  is  their  way  of  showing  the 
ardent  genuineness  of  their  wonder  and  admiration. 
The  supernatural  is  invoked,  not  so  much  to  account 
for  the  words  and  deeds  of  their  heroes  and  demigods, 
as  to  give  them  additional  radiance,  to  glorify  them 
even  to  super-humanity,  and  to  justify  the  adoration 
of  their  worshippers  by  making  use  of  the  power  which 
the  suggestion  of  the  supernatural  exercises  upon 
primitive  emotions. 

The  function  of  art  in  analogous  cases  is  to  take 
the  place  of  the  supernatural  for  more  highly  developed 
minds,  in  whose  temperament  the  spheres  of  emotion 
and  reason  are  more  equally  adjusted.  The  incidents 
in  the  lives  of  beloved  beings  are  invested  with  all  the 
glory  and  beauty  of  form  and  colour  and  interest  of 
detail,  which  the  highest  development  of  artistic  power 
can  effect.  The  supernatural  features  in  primitive 
legends  are  akin  to  the  exaggeration  and  extravagance 
which  result,  in  everyday  experience,  from  undeveloped 
powers  of  thought  and  expression,  and  from  the 
incapacity  of  the  human  creature  who  resorts  to  such 
artifices  to  convey  to  his  fellow-creatures  anything 


35^  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

approaching  the  strength  of  impression  which  the 
circumstances  he  narrates  make  upon  himself,  without 
representing  all  the  inches  as  miles  and  multiplying 
all  his  figures  by  thousands.  The  functions  of  the 
highest  art  are  very  different.  Its  object  is  for  the 
most  part  to  impress  its  subjects  upon  human  minds 
most  deeply  by  displaying  its  facts  under  conditions 
which  appeal  to  sensibilities  as  well  as  to  the  mind. 
And  while  primitive  exaggeration  was  the  fruit  of  the 
lack  of  technique  of  expression,  the  methods  by  which 
art  glorifies  its  subjects  become  continually  more  and 
more  convincing,  as  developments  of  artistic  methods, 
going  on  by  a  cumulative  process  for  generation  after 
generation,  make  the  technique  of  expression  more  and 
more  copious. 

Bach,  as  has  before  been  shown,  was  at  once  the 
product  and  the  co-ordinator  of  methods  which  com- 
posers had  been  building  up  for  centuries.  And  he 
himself  had  enormously  enhanced  their  efficacy.  The 
adjustment  of  means  to  ends  could  hardly  be  more 
aptly  shown  than  in  the  Christmas  Oratorio.  For  the 
work,  being  a  mere  succession  of  incidents,  depends  for 
its  effect  upon  the  manner  in  which  music  enhances 
all  the  suggestions  which  radiate  from  them.  The 
special  art  forms  which  were  most  suitable  for  such 
purposes  had  been  found,  perfected,  and  tested  again 
and  again.  The  moment  was  one  where  the  sacredness 
of  the  incidents  related  was  felt  in  a  most  fruitful 
manner,  and  Bach  himself  was  one  who  would  have 
felt  it  with  the  most  entire  sincerity.  The  Christmas 
Oratorio  may  therefore  be  taken  as  a  very  typical 
example  of  the  device  of  glorifying  cherished  incidents 
by  musical  adornment  and  expansion.     It  is  in  every 


The  Oratorios  357 

way  a  field  in  which  the  personality  of  J.  S.  Bach 
would  find  most  congenial  opportunities.  He  himself 
had  chosen  and  tested  the  various  art  forms  which 
were  most  apt  for  the  occasion,  and  made  them  his  own. 
The  particular  phase  of  religious  sentiment  which 
was  represented  was  just  at  its  best,  and  Bach  himself 
as  the  embodiment  of  the  new  awakening  of  Teutonic 
music  was  ideally  fitted  to  express  it  in  the  terms  of 
his  art. 

In  the  design  of  the  six  portions  it  is  inevitable  that 
there  should  be  some  similarity,  which  produces  an 
unsatisfactory  effect  when  the  work  is  performed  all  at 
once,  but  would  help  the  listeners  when  performed 
on  six  separate  days.  It  was  practically  inevitable 
that  each  part  should  begin  with  an  introductory  move- 
ment of  considerable  proportions,  and  five  times  out 
of  the  six  this  is  a  chorus.  Three  of  these  choruses 
are  borrowed  (as  has  already  been  said)  from  secular 
complimentary  cantatas  written  in  the  previous  year, 
1733.  All  are  eminently  appropriate,  whether  traceable 
to  other  sources  or  not  (see  pp.  340  et  seq) 

The  two  choruses  which  are  not  traceable  as  bor- 
rowed, namely,  those  which  serve  as  introductory  to 
the  fifth  and  sixth  days'  performances,  are  on  a  larger 
and  more  generous  scale,  and  of  more  interesting 
texture  than  the  others.  The  one  introductory  move- 
ment which  is  not  a  chorus  is  the  well-beloved  Pastoral 
Symphony  which  stands  at  the  beginning  of  the  second 
day's  music,  in  virtue  of  its  dealing  exclusively  with 
the  shepherds.  Bach  must  truly  have  rejoiced  in 
shepherds  and  pastoral  folk,  for  the  thought  of  them 
always  seems  to  set  his  mind  welling  with  lovely  tunes 
of  a  folk-song  order  which  vividly  suggest  the  shep- 


35^  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

herd's  life.  And  the  Pastoral  Symphony  is  indeed  a 
piece  of  poetic  characterisation  of  the  first  order.  A 
certain  element  of  uncouthness  adds  to  the  fascination, 
and  the  singular  profusion  of  instruments  with  a  rich 
reedy  tone  (the  two  oboi  d'amore  and  two  oboi  da 
caccia)  establishes  the  character  of  this  portion  of  the 
oratorio  with  overwhelming  emphasis. 

As  is  almost  inevitable,  the  second  movement  in 
all  the  six  portions  of  the  oratorio  is  a  piece  of  recita- 
tive, relating  in  the  simplest  manner  possible  the  in- 
cidents which  serve  as  the  text  of  the  day's  musical 
discourse.  From  this  point  the  order  of  movements  in 
the  several  parts  most  rightly  varies.  In  the  first, fourth, 
and  sixth  portions  an  accompanied  recitative  conveys 
the  figurative  application  of  the  incident,  its  interpre- 
tation in  terms  of  the  worshippers'  personal  feeling. 
In  the  second  the  recitative  relating  the  initiatory 
incidents  is  followed  by  a  chorale,  exhorting  the 
shepherds  not  to  be  in  fear,  for  the  angels  are  telling 

*'  Dass  dieser  schwache  Kndbelein 
Soil  unser  Trost  und  Freude  sein." 

In  the  remaining  two  portions,  the  third  and  fifth, 
the  third  movements  are  most  interesting,  for  in 
these  a  short  dramatic  chorus  is  introduced  after 
the  textual  recitative.  The  type  is  found  in  the  short 
choruses  which  abound  in  the  Passions  when  a  number 
of  persons,  such  as  disciples,  Jews,  priests,  or  other 
clearly  defined  groups,  are  made  to  utter  their  feelings 
or  wishes.  They  might  appropriately  be  classified 
as  "Turba"  choruses,  as  their  character  is  so  strongly 
defined,  and  the  portion  of  the  choir  which  from  early 
times  sang  these  passages  was  traditionally  known  as 


The  Oratorios  359 

the  "Turba"  or  crowd.  The  procedure  adopted  is 
vividly  enHghtening.  In  the  first  case,  that  is  the 
third  day's  portion,  after  the  initial  passage  of  recita- 
tive, the  chorus  sings  with  bustling  animation,  "Let 
us  go  even  to  Bethlehem  and  see  this  thing  which  is 
come  to  pass,"  and  a  bass  solo  instantly  answers,  using 
the  concrete  sentence  from  the  story  as  a  cue  for  a 
metaphorical  expansion,  *'Er  hat  sein  Volk  getrost't, 
er  hat  sein  Israel  erlost,  die  Hlilf  aus  Zion  hergesendet, 
und  unser  Leid  geendet/'  (He  has  comforted  His 
people,  He  has  redeemed  Israel,  He  has  sent  help  to 
Zion,  and  ended  our  afflictions.) 

It  serves  as  the  channel  to  direct  the  minds  of  the 
worshippers  from  the  mere  facts  to  the  wider  issues 
which  are  prefigured  by  them,  and  their  bearing  on 
the  soul-condition  of  Christians  at  large.  The  device 
used  in  the  fifth  day's  portion  is  even  more  interesting. 
The  wise  men  are  evidently  impersonated  in  the  short 
"Turba"  chorus,  when  they  sing  with  graphic  eagerness 
"Where  is  the  new-born  King  of  the  Jews?"  and  the 
alto  solo  breaks  in  for  a  moment  with  the  words  "Seek 
him  in  my  breast";  the  animated  chorus  resumes, 
"We  have  seen  His  star  in  the  east  [Morgenlande] 
and  are  come  to  worship  Him,"  and  the  alto  answers: 
"  Happy  are  ye  that  have  seen  the  light !  it  has  appeared 
for  your  salvation.  My  holy  one!  Thou,  Thou  art  the 
light,  which  shall  also  appear  to  the  heathen,  and  they 
know  Thee  not  yet!  " 

The  untiring  susceptibility  of  Bach's  mind  is  il- 
lustrated by  the  fact  that  in  no  case  does  the  third 
number  in  the  several  parts  correspond  in  any 
two  successive  days.  It  happily  becomes  a  point  of 
divergence     by    which     curiosity,    begotten    of  the 


360  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

uncertainty  as  to  what  is  coming  next,  is  aroused; 
and  strengthens  the  interest  in  the  following  move- 
ments. And  the  chorale  with  which  each  portion 
(except  the  third)  concludes,  restores  the  sense  of 
unity. 

There  are  hosts  of  noteworthy  features  in  the 
various  parts.  In  the  first,  the  introduction  of  a  cho- 
rale which  has  pathetic  associations,  the  0  Haupi 
voll  Blut  und  JVunden,  follows  immediately  after  the 
aria  Bereite  dich,  Zion,  widening  the  meditation 
with  a  touch  of  pathos;  and  after  the  second  passage 
of  the  Evangelist's  recitative,  comes  one  of  those 
uniquely  wonderful  movements  to  which  Bach  seems 
to  have  the  sole  key,  the  duet  between  soprano  and 
bass,  Er  tst  auf  Erden  konimen  arm.  It  is  a  develop- 
ment of  the  "Dialogues,"  which  have  been  so  often 
referred  to  in  connection  with  the  sacred  compositions 
of  Bach's  predecessors,  and  with  many  of  his  can- 
tatas, such  as  Ich  hatte  viel  Bekilmmerniss  and  Gottes 
Zeit.  In  this  case  the  soprano  solo  is  mainly  confmed 
to  the  singing  of  a  chorale,  each  line  of  which  has  an 
answering  comment  in  recitative  by  the  bass  voice, 
the  whole  being  knit  together  by  a  lovely  little  figure  in 
the  accompaniment  which  has  a  quaintly  pastoral 
flavour  and  hovers  round  the  voices  throughout. 

The  most  delightful  movement  in  the  second  day's 
music,  after  the  Pastoral  Symphony  (which  has  been 
discussed),  is  the  well-known  slumber  song,  Schlaje, 
mein  Liebster,  which  had  made  its  appearance  pre- 
viously, as  before  mentioned,  in  the  complimen- 
tary cantata  Die  JVahl  des  Hercules  in  1733.  ^^^e 
position  which  it  occupies  in  the  Christmas  Ora- 
torio must  be  admitted   to   be   a  little  puzzling,  for 


The  Oratorios  361 

it  follows  upon  an  accompanied  recitative  in  which 
the  bass  voice  addressing  the  shepherds  says:  "So 
singet  ihm  bei  seiner  Wiegen  aus  einem  sussen  Ton', 
Und  mit  gesammtem  Chor  dies  Lied  zur  Ruhe  vor." 
But  the  "Wiegenlied"  is  fortunately  not  sung  by  the 
chorus  but  by  an  alto  solo.  Possibly  Bach  meant  to 
convey  the  idea  of  the  soul  of  man  in  the  abstract 
singing  the  lullaby  to  the  beloved  babe  in  the  manger. 
The  impression  it  conveys  to  the  average  mind  is  that 
the  shepherds  have  come  to  the  manger  side  and  hear 
the  mother  singing  it.  At  any  rate  the  effect  it  makes 
is  supremely  happy,  for  the  accompaniment,  being 
full  of  delightfully  reedy  oboe  sounds,  maintains  the 
pastoral  atmosphere,  and  it  is  worthy  of  note  that 
the  sounds  in  question  are  added  for  this  version.  The 
song  as  it  stands  in  Die  JVahl  des  Hercules  has  only 
strings  for  the  accompaniment;  in  this  version  a  solo 
flute,  solo  oboe  d'amore,  and  a  second  oboe  d'amore 
and  two  oboi  da  caccia  are  added  with  very  char- 
acteristic effect.  The  version  in  the  Christmas  Ora- 
torio is  also  interesting  as  illustrating  Bach's  constant 
self-criticism.  The  voice-part  in  the  central  portion 
of  the  aria,  in  the  version  in  the  IVahl  des  Hercules, 
is  rather  dull  and  monotonous.  In  the  present  version, 
Bach  has  given  it  a  vast  amount  of  additional  vitality 
by  introducing  semi-quaver  passages  and  syncopations 
and  a  variety  of  artistic  devices  to  enhance  its  aesthetic 
interest.  The  case  is  such  a  happy  illustration  of  his 
way  of  building  up  the  artistic  value  step  by  step  that 
it  is  worth  while  to  put  the  passages  in  juxtaposition- 
remembering  also  that  the  version  in  the  Wahl  des 
Hercules  is  for  soprano  voice  and  a  third  higher  than 
the  version  in  the  Christmas  Oratorio. 


362 


Johann  Sebastian  Bach 


'  Die  "Wahl  des  Hercules, 


Und  er  kenne  keine  Schranken,  er  kennekeine  Schranken. 


"Weihnacbta  Oratorium. 


Wo  wir  unser  Herz  er-freu 


This  second  section  of  the  work  is  full  of  fine  and 
beautiful  points.  After  the  Slumber  Song,  a  short  pas- 
sage of  narrative  for  the  Evangelist  is  all  that  inter- 
venes before  the  chorus  of  the  multitude  of  the  heavenly 
host  praising  God, — a  splendidly  dignified  and  vigorous 
movement,  in  which  it  is  especially  noticeable  that 
Bach  does  not  resort  to  any  of  the  histrionic  effects 
which  generally  prove  too  seductive  for  the  average 
composer  to  resist,  but  relies  solely  upon  the  absolute 
properties  of  fine  melodic  and  harmonic  progressions 
and  splendidly  strong  contrapuntal  complexities.  A 
still  further  fascinating  thought  of  the  composer  is  to 
accompany  the  final  chorale  with  the  lovely  tunes  of 
the  Pastoral  Symphony,  which  are  interspersed  between 
each  line  of  the  hymn,  at  once  rounding  off  the 
work  into  com.pleteness,  and  maintaining  the  pastoral 
character  up  to  the  very  last. 

The  third  day's  music  is  also  devoted  to  the  shep- 
herds. In  this  section  many  of  the  movements  are 
transferred  from  secular  works  written  the  previous 
year,  and  their  transference  is  quite  justified  by  the 
result  (see  p.  328).  Of  the  new  compositions,  the  alto 
solo,  Schliesse,  mein  Her^e,  dies'  selige  IVunder,  stands 
out  for  its  conspicuous  beauty  as  one  of   the  most 


The  Oratorios  363 

melodious  and  tender  arias  in  the  whole  oratorio;  a 
singularly  fine  chorale,  the  last  line  of  which  is  almost 
unique  even  among  Bach's  examples  for  the  extra- 
ordinary scope  of  its  progressions,  completes  the  music 
of  this  portion,  but  directions  are  given  for  the  first 
chorus  to  be  sung  again. 

The  next  portion  also  contains  several  borrowed 
numbers.  Besides  these  there  are  two  dialogues  be- 
tween soprano  and  bass  solos;  the  bass  solo  having 
a  recitative  throughout,  on  which,  half  way  through, 
a  very  beautiful  melody  is  superimposed,  quite  in- 
dependently, for  the  soprano  voice.  It  has  some- 
thing of  the  character  of  a  chorale,  but  is  possibly 
by  John  Sebastian  himself.  The  second  dialogue 
duet  is  rather  different  in  treatment,  as  the  solo 
soprano  sings  a  metrical  melody  almost  throughout, 
the  bass  singing  expressive  unmetrical  recitatives 
below  it.  The  chorale  at  the  end  is  notable  for  the 
scale  of  its  independent  instrumental  accompaniment. 

The  fifth  and  sixth  portions  contain  much  less  which 
can  be  traced  to  earlier  works.  Both  the  initial  cho- 
ruses are  on  a  very  large  scale— that  for  New  Year's 
day  (the  Circumcision)  is  in  aria  form,  and  of  the 
familiar  Bachish  type  in  which  harmonic  structure  is 
entirely  hidden  by  the  rich  texture  of  animated  poly- 
phony, which  is  most  appropriate  for  the  words  Ehre 
set  dir  Gott.  After  it,  follow  the  *'Turba"  chorus 
above  discussed  and  its  attendant  metaphorical  appli- 
cation (p.  359);  a  chorale,  a  fine  bass  solo,  and  an  ac- 
companied recitative  (in  which  expressive  instrumental 
effect  is  employed);  a  beautiful  terzetto  with  violin 
solo  and  the  chorale  which  concludes  the  whole. 

In  the  initial  chorus  of  the  last  portion,  for  Epiph- 


364  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

any,  the  voices  are  treated  fugally,  in  Bach's  most 
energetic  manner,  with  copious  runs  and  ornamental 
passages;  and  the  other  outstanding  features  are  the 
aria  for  soprano,  Nur  ein  Wink  von  seinen  Hdnden, 
and  a  very  remarkable  composite  solo  for  tenor 
with  accompaniment  of  two  oboi  d'amore  and  bass. 
So  geht !  genug,  mein  Schati  geht  nicht  von  hier.  In 
the  latter,  passages  of  free  recitative  alternate  with 
short  passages  in  strict  time,  ending,  after  a  man- 
ner so  familiar  in  Bach's  cantatas,  with  an  adagio 
passage  in  deeply  expressive  arioso  style,  which  widens 
out  the  horizon  most  surprisingly  with  a  touch  of 
anguish,  overshadowing  in  forethought  for  a  moment 
the  joy  of  the  season    (see  next  page). 

This  is  followed  by  a  kindly  tenor  aria,  and  that  in 
turn  by  a  recitative  for  four  voices,  which  brings  all  the 
soloists  who  have  been  employed  in  the  work  together 
for  once — a  singular  illustration  of  Bach's  wide  awake- 
ness  to  the  practical  as  well  as  the  spiritual.  And  the 
conclusion  of  the  whole  is  the  same  chorale,  0  Haiipt 
voll  Blut  und  Wunden,  which  had  been  introduced 
at  the  outset  of  the  first  day's  music,  and  is  this  time 
enhanced  by  an  elaborate  instrumental  accompani- 
ment in  which  trumpets  and  drums  are  much  in 
evidence. 

The  manner  in  which  Bach  uses  his  instruments  is 
yet  a  further  illustration  of  the  extent  to  which  his 
mind  took  in  every  phase  of  the  artistic  problem.  There 
is  in  this  matter  a  singular  analogy  to  his  procedure 
in  individual  movements,  since  each  portion  is  char- 
acterised by  a  special  tone  quality,  and  has  what  would 
be  called  by  painters  a  scheme  of  colour.  The  first 
and  last,  as  would  be  instinctively  felt  to  be  appropriate, 


The  Oratorios 


365 


Weihnachts  Oratorium. 


m^ 


:5=»=^: 


-•— V- 


Du,  Je-  su,  bist  undbleibstmein  Freund;Undwerdich 
2  Oboe  d  1'  Araore.  


^1^ 


^3' 


S:iS 


-<^: 


OUGANO  E  COMINUO. 


:|3E^-gEt^»^ 


-^^t- 


Efe 


aEgstlich  zu  dir  flehn ;       Herr,  hilf!         Herr,  hilf!  So 


^     1  ^r^r-f^d 


zziiLzazzpil 


— .N-i^;- 


# — •- 


Tb 


5(2 


7l2 


IE 


-q    T  ^— *-§»—»- 


t=t 


^=1- 


f^^.^ 


«i— * 


lass  mich  Hiil  -  fe    sehn. 

-h ^ 


F 


il 


^^^ti* 


^-^¥ 


1 


366  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

have  the  greatest  and  most  complete  array  of  all  the 
instruments.  There  are  trumpets  and  drums  in  the 
first  chorus  of  all,  and  in  the  fmal  chorale  of  the  first  por- 
tion, also  in  the  first  chorus,  and  in  the  final  chorale  of 
the  last  day's  music,  and  there  is  also  a  solo  trumpet  in 
the  aria  Grosser  Herr  in  the  first  portion.  In  the  rest 
of  the  work  the  trumpets  are  in  abeyance,  except  in  the 
first  chorus  of  the  third  portion.  In  the  second  portion 
the  pervading  tone  is  that  of  the  oboes,  which  is  ob- 
viously appropriate  to  the  shepherds  who  are  so  promi- 
nent in  that  part  of  the  narrative.  In  the  fourth  part, 
and  in  that  part  alone,  horns  are  used.  In  the  fifth  part 
the  scheme  of  tone  is  more  composite,  but  tends  to  em- 
phasise oboe  tone  again.  So  that  even  in  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  colours  there  is  evidence  of  design,  each  day 
having  a  special  tone  quality,  and  no  two  successive 
days  having  the  same. 

The  emphasis  which  is  laid  upon  the  individual 
character  of  the  music  for  each  day  is  one  of  the 
hindrances  to  its  being  fully  intelligible  under  or- 
dinary conditions.  The  fact  that  Bach's  mind  was 
always  so  ready  to  adapt  the  artistic  work  to  the 
actual  conditions  of  presentment,  militates  against 
the  Oratorio  producing  its  effect  when  performed 
all  at  once.  The  choruses  which  begin  five  of 
the  portions  are  essentially  initial  choruses,  and  the 
Pastoral  Symphony  is  also  an  initial  movement,  and 
the  more  Bach  realised  the  appropriate  type  and 
style  of  an  initial  movement  the  less  such  move- 
ments are  fit  to  be  assimilated  into  a  continuous 
whole.  It  is  an  illustration  of  the  value  of  that  culture 
which  is  unfortunately  sometimes  rendered  distasteful 
by  the  misrepresentations  of  some  of  its  advocates. 


The  Oratorios  367 

There  are  numerous  works  of  the  very  highest  artistic 
quaHty  which  have  been  so  perfectly  devised  to  fit 
special  conditions  that  when  the  conditions  are  unob- 
tainable they  appear  almost  unintelligible.  In  such 
cases  minds  of  average  vivacity  are  able  to  recon- 
struct the  conditions  for  which  the  work  was  devised 
when  they  have  sufficiently  formulated  them  in  im- 
agination, and  through  that  process  they  obtain  the 
attitude  which  is  indispensable  to  the  enjoyment 
of  deep  phases  of  artistic  expression.  The  per- 
fect adaptation  of  artistic  works  to  the  conditions  of 
presentment  is  the  whole  sphere  of  style,  and  in  this 
department  Bach's  instinct  was  supreme.  The  Christ- 
mas Oratorio  manifests  evidence  of  it  in  a  high  degree, 
and  for  that  reason  becomes  less  intelligible  in  ordinary 
conditions  of  performance,  whether  in  a  church  or  a 
concert  room. 

The  Easter  Oratorio  Kommt,  eilet  und  laufet  is  a 
short  work  in  a  very  joyous  vein.  The  scheme  is 
altogether  different  from  that  of  the  Christmas 
Oratorio.  There  is  no  Evangelist  to  recite  the  in- 
cidents of  the  narrative,  and  there  are  no  chorales. 
The  story  remains  in  the  background,  the  incidents 
being  taken  for  granted  and  applied  figuratively  to  the 
soul  of  the  worshipper,  which  is  suggested  as  running 
to  the  sepulchre  and  asking  where  the  Beloved  is 
gone;  referring  to  the  answer  of  the  angel  that  he  is 
risen,  in  the  terms,  ''We  rejoice  that  our  Jesus  lives, 
and  our  hearts,  that  were  overwhelmed  with  sorrow, 
forget  the  pain  and  think  in  happy  song  that  our 
holy  one  lives  again,"  and  then  bursting  into  the 
joyous  "Praise  and  thanks."  It  therefore  consists 
of  a  metaphorical  parallel  or  commentary  analogous 


368  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

to  similar  portions  of  the  Passion  music,  but  without 
the  recital  of  the  story. 

Among  noteworthy  features  is  the  composer's  adop- 
tion of  a  form  he  had  not  often  used,  at  all  events  in 
choral  works.  It  has  been  pointed  out  that  in  several 
of  his  cantatas  he  devised  the  opening  movements 
in  the  form  of  the  French  overture.  In  this  work 
he  devises  the  opening  movement  in  the  form  of  the 
Italian  overture,  such  as  was  used  by  Alessandro 
Scarlatti  in  his  "sinfonias"  to  operas.  He  possibly 
adopted  the  form  because  the  weighty  initial  move- 
ment of  the  French  overture  would  not  be  so  well 
adapted  to  give  the  sense  of  joyousness  which  would  be 
appropriate  to  a  work  for  Eastertide  as  the  allegro 
movement  which  commences  the  Italian  overture. 
He  actually  calls  the  opening  group  of  movements 
"sinfonia,"  and  the  purely  instrumental  portions  con- 
sist of  the  lively  allegro,  corresponding  to  the  familiar 
first  movement  of  a  classical  sonata  or  symphony,  and 
the  adagio  corresponding  to  the  slow  movement,  which 
in  this  case  suggests  a  momentary  revival  of  the  sense  of 
bereavement  in  the  minds  of  the  disciples  and  lovers 
of  the  crucified  Lord. 

The  third  movement  begins  in  the  style  of  the  lively 
third  movement  of  an  Italian  overture  or  symphony, 
but  passes  very  soon  into  a  duet  for  tenor  and  bass, 
which  is  no  doubt  meant  to  suggest  the  running  of 
Peter  and  John  to  the  sepulchre  (a  tradition  which  is 
said  to  have  been  perpetuated  in  the  histrionic  pre- 
sentation of  the  story  in  German  churches  at  Easter- 
time);  and  this  in  its  turn  is  carried  on  yet  further 
with  a  chorus  which  typifies  the  eagerness  of  the  souls 
of  the  worshippers  to  run  to  the  sepulchre  also  and 


The  Oratorios 


369 


to  contemplate  the  tokens  of  the  resurrection.  The 
idea  of  running  after  one  another  is  verv  Quaintly 
suggested  in  the  following  passage : 


M 


lauf  -  et. 


Kommt, 


m=f=f:- 


m^ 


-V — f- 


'h^-F^^ 


let   und      lau 


:^5^E^=t=^=E 


Kommt,  ei 


let     und    lau  -     fet 


/ 


s^~r^  % 


-:^*—V.y 


iis=ic=?r=f; 


SEi 


z^=tr^^=^ 


370  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

In  a  quartet-recitative,  the  imagined  souls  of 
devout  Christians  discuss  the  situation  figuratively, 
and  a  soprano  solo  sings  "Soul,  thy  spices  shall  no 
longer  be  myrrh,  but  thou  shalt  appease  thy  painful 
longing  with  a  crown  of  bay."  It  is  the  soul  that 
comes  to  the  tomb  and  sings  a  kind  of  soothing  slum- 
ber song,  gi\'en  to  a  tenor  voice,  implying  that  the 
believer's  sleep  in  death  will  be  sweet  and  relieved 
of  its  terrors  through  the  "Schweisstuck"  of  Jesus. 
It  makes  plaint  in  a  duet  recitative  and  arioso  that  it 
"can  no  longer  see  the  Saviour,"  and  again  in  a  solo  for 
alto  asks  where  it  may  fmd  Jesus;  to  which  a  bass  solo 
answers  in  recitative, expressing  the  joy  that  "Our  Jesus 
yet  lives,"  and  a  short  but  brilliant  chorus  expresses 
"Praise  and  thanks."  The  work  does  not  contain 
any  imposing  choral  features,  and  intrinsically  is  not 
very  impressive.  The  tenor  solo  is  highly  characteristic 
of  Bach  in  one  of  his  most  attractive  moods,  but 
unfortunately  is  so  long  as  to  be  almost  unpresentable. 
For  the  rest.  Bach  seems  to  content  himself  with  the 
expression  of  joyousness  on  unusually  slight  and  simple 
lines;  and  the  work  is  notable  for  the  extent  to  which 
the  incidents  of  the  resurrection  are  taken  for  granted 
and,  as  it  were,  transferred  figuratively,  with  a  great 
deal  of  sentiment,  to  the  soul  of  the  latter-day  Chris- 
tian, thereby  illustrating  the  tendency  of  the  Teutonic 
Protestants  to  re-establish  the  personal  relation  between 
the  individual  and  Christ  which  has  been  so  frequently 
referred  to. 

The  Ascension  Oratorio  is  on  different  lines,  for  in 
this  are  found  again  the  features  of  the  Passion-music 
type — such  as  the  recitatives  in  which  the  Evangelist 
quotes  the  passages  in   the  Gospel   referring  to   the 


The  Oratorios  371 

Ascension,  and  the  solos  bringing  the  soul  figuratively 
into  immediate  contact  with  the  situation,  and  the 
chorales.  It  opens  with  a  superbly  vigorous  and  ex- 
tensively developed  chorus,  Lobet  Gott  in  seinen 
Reichen,  whereupon  follows  the  recital  by  the  Evan- 
gelist of  Jesus  blessing  his  disciples.  After  this  come 
a  touching  and  tender  recitative,  Ach  Jesu,  ist  dein 
Ahschied  schon  so  nah,  and  the  pathetic  solo  for  alto, 
Ach,  hleihe  doch  mein  liehstes  Lehen,  which  has  been 
described  in  the  expanded  form  in  which  it  appears 
in  the  B  minor  Mass  as  the  Agnus  Dei.  The  work, 
which  is  not  long,  then  proceeds  with  a  chorale,  and 
further  relation  of  the  incidents  with  commentatory 
movements  referring  them  as  usual  to  the  soul,  and 
ends  with  a  superb  chorus  in  which  a  chorale  is  in- 
troduced with  brilliant  accompaniment  of  orchestra 
and  free  contrapuntal  treatment  of  the  subordinate 
voices,  after  the  manner  of  a  Choralvorspiel. 

The  work  is  much  weightier  and  more  powerfully 
developed  than  the  Easter  Oratorio,  and  it  is  not  so 
easy  to  guess  its  date.  The  form  of  the  alto  solo 
implies  that  it  was  written  before  the  B  minor  Mass, 
as  the  form  in  which  it  appears  in  that  work  is  more 
developed.  At  the  same  time,  inasmuch  as  the  com- 
position of  the  Mass  spreads  over  many  years,  it  may 
have  been  written  between  the  Kyrie  and  the  later 
movements,  since  the  first  portion  was  finished  in  1733, 
and  it  is  considered  probable  that  the  whole  Mass  was 
not  completed  till  1737.  The  Christmas  Oratorio  is 
attributed  to  1734,  the  Easter  Oratorio  to  1736;  and 
the  Ascension  Oratorio  may  have  been  written  about 
the  same  time,  and  yet  have  left  time  for  the  am- 
plified version  of  the  Agnu,s  Dei  to  have  been  added  to 


372  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

the  Mass.  It  is  even  less  like  the  ordinary  concep- 
tion of  an  oratorio  than  the  Christmas  Oratorio.  The 
scheme  and  scale  are  those  of  a  grand  church  cantata, 
and  it  is  generally  classed  as  one.  Intrinsically  it  repre- 
sents Bach's  maturest  standard,  and  contains  some  of 
his  most  characteristic  inspirations,  among  which  must 
be  counted  the  wonderful  aria  for  soprano,  JesUy  deine 
Gnadenblicke,  which  carries  the  composer's  methods 
of  applying  polyphonic  counterpoint  in  solo  movements 
to  the  very  highest  pitch  of  artistic  intensity.  It  is, 
indeed,  a  quartet  between  the  solo  voice  and  the 
flute,  oboe,  and  viola,  in  which  the  higher  dignity  of  the 
solo  voice  is  mainly  recognised  in  its  having  the  words 
which  define  the  sentiment,  to  which  the  beautiful 
interlacing  of  the  melodies,  and  the  harmonies  thereby 
induced,  supply  musical  expression.  A  feature  which 
must  not  be  overlooked  is  that  there  is  no  deep  bass  in 
the  whole  movement,  so  that  it  seems  to  hover  in  the 
air  and  subtly  to  suggest  kinship  with  the  serenity  of 
a  cloudless  sky.  The  scheme  was  peculiarly  congenial 
to  the  composer,  as  may  be  observed  in  such  types 
as  the  trio  sonatas,  and  the  solo  Bete,  bete  in  the 
cantata  Mache  dich,  mein  Geist,  hereit. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  LATEST  CANTATAS 

When  attentively  considered,  the  manner  in  which 
Bach  completed  the  spacious  circuit  of  his  life's  work 
appears  almost  pathetic  in  its  aptness.  In  some  re- 
spects there  can  hardly  be  a  doubt  that  he  foresaw  the 
inevitable  end,  and  calmly  projected  his  mind  to  the 
completion  of  schemes  which  required  final  touches 
to  make  them  fully  representative  of  his  personality. 
In  other  respects  the  course  he  adopted  was  not  de- 
liberate or  conscious,  but  merely  the  result  of  per- 
sonal and  temperamental  bias.  This  latter  condition 
is  probably  shown  most  conspicuously  in  the  line  he 
adopted  in  his  church  cantatas  in  the  last  twenty  years 
of  his  life. 

It  is  to  be  observed  that  nearly  all  his  greatest  sacred 
works,  such  as  the  "Johannes-Passion,"  the  "  Matthaus- 
Passion,"  the  masses  and  the  oratorios  were  produced 
in  the  course  of  the  ten  years  between  1728  and  1738; 
and  it  would  be  natural  to  infer  that  their  composition 
would  have  caused  a  temporary  relaxation  of  the 
constant  outpouring  of  cantatas.  In  any  case  the 
concentration  on  a  number  of  great  works,  especially 
the  "Matthaus-Passion,"  had  some  influence  on  the 
condition  of  mind  in  which  he  addressed  himself  to 

373 


374  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

works  written  after  it.  Every  great  mind  grows  and 
expands  by  what  it  achieves,  and  it  is  found  in  this  case 
that  when  the  outpouring  of  cantatas  is  resumed, 
characteristics  become  obvious  which  show  unmis- 
takably that  the  Teutonic  influences  which  had  been  so 
evident  in  earlier  days  before  Bach  came  to  Leipzig 
were  regaining  predominance. 

It  is  a  significant  fact  that  in  1728,  just  before  the 
period  under  consideration,  an  isolated  cantata,  Wer 
nur  den  liehen  Gott  Idsst  walten,  the  only  cantata 
which  is  attributed  to  that  year,  prefigures  the  scheme 
of  most  of  the  later  cantatas.  It  must  have  been 
written  close  to  the  "Matthaus-Passion,"  and  its 
character  confirms  the  inference  that  the  attitude  of 
mind  in  which  he  must  have  written  that  great  work 
was  influential  in  impelling  him  to  revert  to  the  Teu- 
tonic phase  which  is  manifested  in  the  later  cantatas. 
It  seems  like  the  herald  of  that  renewed  impulse 
which  was,  after  1730,  to  find  such  copious  ex- 
pression. In  this  work  no  less  than  six  out  of  seven 
movements  have  the  chorale  of  the  cantata  as  the 
most  conspicuous  feature.  In  the  first  chorus  its 
steadfast  phrases  alternate  with  splendidly  brilliant 
episodes  for  chorus  and  orchestra,  thus  anticipating 
the  scheme  of  the  later  cantatas;  the  second  and  fifth 
movements  are  in  a  form  in  which  Bach  took  great 
delight  in  his  later  days,  in  which  the  phrases  of  the 
chorale  are  alternated  with  answering  phrases  of  reci- 
tative; the  fourth  movement  is  a  duet  of  expressive 
character  in  which  the  chorale  is  played  by  massed 
strings  in  the  accompaniment;  the  sixth  movement  is 
an  aria  for  soprano  in  which  the  last  two  phrases  of 
the  chorale  are  introduced  with  impressive  eJect  into 


The  Latest  Cantatas  375 

the  solo  part ;  and  the  last  movement  is  the  usual  simple 
version  of  the  chorale.  Even  the  singularly  simple  and 
tuneful  aria  for  tenor  Man  hatte  nur,  which  stands 
third  in  the  order  of  movements,  has  close  connection 
with  the  tune  of  the  chorale,  as  its  first  phrase  mani- 
festly presents  the  identical  melodic  succession,  though 
disguised  by  the  three-eight  tempo  and  the  major 
key  and  the  manner  in  which  the  melody  is  broken  up 
into  short  phrases. 

This  revival  of  a  Teutonic  attitude  of  mind,  which 
is  manifested  most  conspicuously  in  the  increased 
prominence  of  the  chorales  in  the  cantatas  written 
after  1730,  was  partly  due  to  the  change  of  Bach's 
attitude  in  respect  of  his  texts.  It  is  obvious  that  one 
of  his  greatest  difficulties  in  getting  such  a  vast  number 
of  cantatas  provided  for  the  various  Sundays  and 
festivals  of  the  year  lay  in  finding  adequate  poems  to 
set.  He  had  been  fortunate  in  having  many  good  and 
inspiring  poetical  texts  by  Neumeister  and  Salomo 
Franck;  but  their  cantata-texts  were  exhaustible,  and 
for  many  urgent  occasions  he  had  been  at  the  mercy 
of  poets  or  versemakers  who  supplied  him  with  little 
better  than  doggerel.  He  evidently  revised  and  re- 
wrote the  words  himself  now  and  again,  but  there 
must  have  been  occasions  when  he  had  not  time  for  it, 
and  he  had  to  accommodate  himself  to  what  he  could 
get  from  Picander  or  any  other  contriver  of  sacred 
verse.  Alternatives  of  which  he  had  occasionally 
availed  himself  had  been  the  recognised  hymns  of 
the  church;  and  among  those  he  could  at  least  find 
materials  which  were  appropriate  to  special  seasons, 
and  much  better  and  more  genuinely  expressed  poetry. 

The  much  more  frequent  adoption  of  hymns  in  the 


3  7^  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

last  twenty  years  of  his  life  brought  certain  interesting 
consequences.  It  was  a  drawback  that  their  regular 
metrical  arrangement  made  them  less  adaptable  for 
setting  as  recitatives  and  arias.  This  was  obviated 
to  a  certain  extent  by  adding  a  great  deal  of  poetical 
matter  to  the  hymn,  in  the  form  of  verses  which  lent 
themselves  more  easily  for  such  purposes.  But  the 
very  familiarity  of  the  hymns  and  the  impossibility  of 
contriving  extra  verses  which  did  not  betray  their 
extraneous  sources  induced  the  disposition  to  dispense 
with  such  interpolations  where  possible;  and  this  had 
the  effect  of  making  more  frequent  the  use  of  forms 
of  art  which  were  more  genuinely  Teutonic  than  the 
recitatives  and  arias  which  had  been  transplanted 
from  Italian  opera.  But  further  than  this,  a  more 
vital  change  was  caused  by  the  hymns  bringing  in  their 
wake  the  chorales  with  which  they  were  associated. 
And  Bach's  delight  in  them  and  his  feeling  for  their 
devotional  significance  caused  him  to  identify  the 
cantatas  with  them  by  all  manner  of  devices  which 
quite  transformed  and  Teutonised  both  their  form  and 
character. 

However,  it  must  not  be  inferred  that  this  was  a 
totally  new  departure  taken  in  the  later  years  of  the 
composer's  life.  There  had  been  some  earlier  examples 
of  similar  procedure,  as  in  the  notable  case  of  Christ 
lag  in  Todeshanden,  where  all  the  movements  are 
founded  on  the  tune;  and  the  introduction  of  chorale 
phrases  into  accompaniments,  and  in  combination  with 
recitatives  and  arias,  was  of  common  occurrence.  It  is 
merely  the  preponderance  of  such  action  which  shows 
the  revival  of  the  Teutonic  bias,  and  it  also  most  happily 
shows  the  continuity  of  Bach's  artistic  life;  as  if  some 


The  Latest  Cantatas  377 

deepset  impulse  had  lain  dormant  for  long  spells  of 
time,  and  only  occasionally  gave  indications  of  vi- 
tality, ultimately  presenting  itself  as  a  distinguishing 
and  conspicuous  feature  in  the  great  mind's  personality. 
The  trait  is  not  at  all  uncommon  with  great  artists, 
who  revert  in  their  maturest  periods  to  characteristic 
expressions  and  types  of  thought  which  have  rem.ained 
in  comparative  abeyance  since  early  years.  It  is  a 
most  interesting  verification  of  the  genuineness  of  their 
utterances  and  the  consistency  of  their  personalities. 

The  German  chorales  may  be  regarded  as  among 
the  most  powerful  influences  in  Bach's  musical  life. 
Few  things  had  greater  or  more  constant  hold  upon 
him.  But  in  the  course  of  his  cosmopolitan  explora- 
tions of  artistic  methods  and  forms  in  the  desire  to 
widen  to  the  utmost  the  means  for  the  expression  of  his 
own  personality,  they  had  sometimes  been  pushed  into 
the  background.  But  in  the  latest  period  the  Italian 
phase  of  the  cantata  becomes  less  conspicuous,  and 
the  church  hymns  and  the  chorales  renew  their 
sway. 

It  is  not,  however,  desirable  to  disguise  some  of  the 
consequences.  The  forms  which  Bach  had  used  for 
his  great  choruses  which  were  not  based  on  chorales 
had  been  cosmopolitan,  and  capable  of  variation  and 
progressive  development.  The  forms  which  were 
available  for  the  expansion  of  the  chorale  were 
purely  Lutheran-Teutonic,  and  that  which  Bach 
most  frequently  adopted  was  limited  in  capacity 
of  development.  It  must  further  be  admitted  that  in 
these  later  days  Bach's  procedure  in  a  vast  num- 
ber of  cantatas  became,  as  far  as  design  is  con- 
cerned, mechanical.      He  had  to  provide  a  big  work 


378  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

at  short  notice  for  a  given  Sunday  or  festival,  the  re- 
quirements for  which  were  present  in  his  mind;  and 
having  no  time  for  pondering  over  new  speculative 
designs,  he  filled  in  the  measure  of  a  scheme  which  he 
had  tested  and  found  adequate  with  art-work  of  the 
highest  quality;  probably  not  contemplating  any  wider 
issue  than  the  Sunday  or  festival  for  which  the  work 
was  immediately  composed.  His  practice  in  this 
matter  was  analogous  to  that  of  the  sonata  composers 
of  later  days,  who,  in  a  large  majority  of  cases,  adopted 
precisely  the  same  order  of  movements,  and  even  the 
same  order  and  disposition  of  the  main  constituents 
of  the  movements  themselves;  relying  on  their  power 
of  diversifying  the  actual  musical  rhaterial  to  insure 
variety  and  individuality  to  each  work.  And  it  must 
be  admitted  that  Bach  was  quite  as  successful  in  giving 
individuality  to  his  cantatas  by  the  nature  and  treat- 
ment of  his  musical  material  as  the  best  of  the  sonata 
composers  were  in  their  line. 

In  the  chorale  cantatas  the  scheme  becomes  almost 
a  certainty.  The  essential  object  of  the  first  chorus, 
which  is  the  most  imposing  feature  in  the  work,  was 
to  build  a  grand  movement  round  the  chorale  or  de- 
velop one  out  of  it,  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  the  tune 
stand  out  like  a  solid  and  steadfast  beacon  from  the  elab- 
orated details  of  polyphony  which  supply  the  artistic 
interest  and  the  musical  expression.  The  manner  in 
which  the  chorale  is  dealt  with  becomes  more  and  more 
decisively  systematised  into  two  clear  types,  which 
have  their  origin  in  forms  of  organ  compositions  based 
on  chorales.  These  two  types,  singularly  enough, 
represent  two  phases  which  are  present  at  every  period 
in  which  art  has  any  vitality;  the  one  form  showing 


The  Latest  Cantatas  379 

clearly  its  kinship  with  the  past,  and  the  other  reaching 
out  its  hands  to  the  future.  In  the  former  phase,  in 
Bach's  case,  the  fugal  type  is  followed,  in  the  latter  the 
harmonic  principle;  the  fugue  being  represented  by 
continuity  and  the  interweaving  of  strands,  the  har- 
monic forms  by  large  blocks  of  diversified  choral 
phrases  like  the  solid  masses  of  architecture. 

In  the  large  majority  of  these  choruses  Bach  adopts 
the  latter  scheme,  which  it  is  advisable  to  consider 
more  closely.  The  movement  begins  in  this  case  with 
an  introductory  passage  for  the  orchestra,  some- 
times founded  on  original  figures  by  which  the  senti- 
ment of  the  v/ords  is  strongly  expressed.  Then  the 
voices  deal  with  the  first  phrase  of  the  chorale,  one  of 
the  parts  having  the  tune  in  long  notes  and  the  rest  of 
the  voices  singing  passages  which  are  sometimes  inde- 
pendent figures,  and  at  other  times  present  some  form 
of  the  figures  of  the  chorale  tune.  After  the  first  line 
of  the  hymn  is  completed  there  is  a  short  episode  for 
the  instruments,  and  then  the  second  line  of  the  hymn 
is  dealt  with  in  similar  manner  to  the  first;  and  so  on 
through  the  whole  chorale,  its  phrases  alternating  with 
instrumental  episodes  throughout,  and  ending  some- 
times with  an  instrumental  passage,  sometimes  more 
decisively  with  the  last  line  of  the  chorale.  The  type 
of  movement  is  obviously  a  specialty  of  this  kind  of 
church  cantata,  and  besides  its  connection  with  the 
chorale  fantasia  it  also  has  close  kinship  with  the 
traditional  manner  of  dealing  with  a  chorale  when 
simply  sung  in  the  Lutheran  services;  when  the  organ- 
ist was  accustomed  to  extemporise  episodes  on  the 
organ  between  the  lines.  The  form  has  the  drawback 
of  being  rather  stiflf  and  of  scarcely  admitting  of  any 


380  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

development  to  musical  climax,  for  it  almost  inevita- 
bly maintains  an  equal  level  throughout. 

Far  more  interesting  and  elastic  is  the  other  form 
of  movement  which,  as  has  been  said,  was  of  a  fugal 
type.  In  choruses  of  this  order  Bach  followed  with 
singular  fidelity  and  felicity  the  type  known  as  the  Pa- 
chelbel  Choralvorspiel.  The  chorus  began,  without 
instrumental  introduction,  with  the  successive  entries 
of  the  several  secondary  voices  in  imitations  founded 
on  the  tune  of  the  chorale,  but  in  quicker  notes;  and 
when  they  have  all  joined  in,  the  voice  to  which  the 
chorale  is  allotted,  sings  the  tune  in  long  notes,  like  a 
canto  fermo  in  the  older  contrapuntal  style,  the  others 
continuing  the  quicker  motion.  When  the  first 
phrase  is  finished  the  subordinate  voices  prepare  the 
way  for  the  second  phrase  of  the  chorale  by  antici- 
patory imitations  dealing  with  the  figures  of  that 
second  phrase.  Then  the  principal  voice  sings 
the  second  phrase  in  long  notes  like  the  first,  and 
similar  procedure  is  followed  to  the  end.  The 
first  chorus  of  the  cantata  to  Luther's  words  Ach 
Gott  vom  Himmel  sieh'  darein  shows  how  closely 
Bach  followed  the  same  procedure  as  Pachelbel.  In 
the  Choralvorspiel  Gott  Vater  der  du  deiner  Sohn 
for  the  organ  by  that  composer,  the  secondary  parts, 
tenor,  alto,  and  bass,  enter  successively  with  imitations 
founded  on  a  diminution  of  the  chorale  tune,  as 
follows : 


Pachelbel.    • '  Gott  Vater." 


m^^ 


The  Latest  Cantatas 


381 


When  they  have  all  in  this  manner  made  their  entry, 
the  soprano  duly  presents  the  chorale  in  long  notes  as 
follows : 


Pachelbel. 

V 


^-- 


^=4 


y    ^^~p 


p  -0 


■A-lTTc 


I    I  ••'  J. 


-M^ 


w^m 


^- 


-?.»- 


r-r-r 


r 


11^- 


55?e 


5»: 


n 


:e 


In  Bach's  chorus  the  procedure  is  identical;  tenors, 
basses,  and  sopranos  successively  make  their  entries 
with  the  first  phrase  of  the  tune  in  diminution; 


Johann  Sebastian  Bach 


und 

I 


^t- 


lass 


dich's         doch 


Bass. 


-^- 


Ach 


Gott, 


vom       Him 


lel. 


^- 


=1- 


Ach 


-0 — ^ — t-^ 1- 


SOPRAXO. 


Gott 


m 


Basses. 


bar 


Wr: 


i^ 


sieh 

CONTINUO. 


da 


und. 


:=1: 


lass 

^- 


-(S- 


-25^ 


Him 


fl 


mel 
I 

.5^ 


sieh 


da 

,     I 


men,  und     lass    dich's   doch 


I  I 


^'^^- 


er      -        bar 


1 


I  J- 


dich's 

J- 


doch. 


-^-i- 


-^-.—'iM — •• 


-*-11. 


t  1 


-r 


bar 


Etc. 


The  Latest  Cantatas 


383 


and  as  soon  as  they  have  all  come  in   the  altos  sing 
the   same  tune  in  notes  of  double  the  length. 

Voices.  1 


^- 


4-4- 


^b± 


■^ 


^— ^ 


Ach. 


m 


^      ^  ^±    ^  .i 


Gott 


■^=^^==- 


;iEE: 


COXTINUO. 


S: 


3=«^=gJ 


8' 

Jul      I      l_| 


^m 


Hii 


mel, 


sieh. 


M 


Johann  Sebastian  Bach 


As  soon  as  the  first  line  of  the  tune  is  finished  the 
subordinate  voices  proceed  to  anticipate  the  second 
line  in  the  same  manner. 


^ 


af^ 


Tenoks. 


Und         lass       dich's     doch       er  -  bar 


53; 


Und 


-J^4 


1      I 


SiS**!^ 


-^i^- 


Und 


-•— ^ 


i--^^-- 


1 


-(S*- 


-^  ^-  -^  -#- 


^  -#- 


$ 


lass         dich's        doch 

—I i— 


bar 


-g^— 


M 


T  J  J.  i  ^^-  IK  ^■ 


lEE 


-q^ 


:p: 


:2^ 


e 


lass         dich's 
-^ 


doch         er 


bar, 


1E^& 


Z]=d: 


3E 


^.  ^- 


-^-i?"^ 


tiri? 


Etc. 


And  the  second  line  is  then  sung  by  the  altos  in  long 
notes  as  follows: 


The  Latest  Cantatas 


38s 


$ 


Voices. 

J L 


^^^ 


:^ 


-«s*- 


-iS'fS'- 


Und. 


lass 


CONTINUO. 


If ^■ 


# ^ 


-^— P 


t:: 


1^=1=3=:^: 


• — ^ 


i^ — • 


i}^ 


-<&- 


i 


^25f— 


dich's 


doch 


mm 


^ 


— ^- 


!!^-fe 


« , 


:^: 


--! — -• — ^— 


TEtc. 


s 


:itiS 


and  the  same  process  is  maintained  to  the  end.  In 
this  manner  the  whole  movement  is  almost  made  up 
of  passages  from  the  chorale,  and  there  is  hardly  a  mo- 
ment when  some  of  its  phrases  are  not  heard.  No  other 
composer  could  hope  to  approach  Bach  in  such  a  type, 
as  his  facility  in  the  dexterous  manipulation  of  single- 
part  subjects,  gained  by  such  an  enormous  amount  of 
practice  superimposed  on  natural  aptitude,  enabled 
him  to  overcome  the  most  extreme  difficulties  with 
such  ease  that  they  are  never  perceived;  and  it  enables 

as 


386  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

him  also  to  use  all  his  astonishing  canonic  combinations 
as  means  to  the  ends  of  expression. 

After  the  initial  chorus  the  solo  voices  come  into 
requisition,  and  arias  alternate  with  recitatives,  and 
occasionally  with  movements  of  more  Teutonic  type, 
till  the  necessary  measure  of  music  for  the  church 
cantata  in  the  service  (somewhere  said  to  be  about 
thirty-five  minutes)  is  completed;  and  then  the  whole 
is  rounded  off  by  the  singing  of  the  chorale  in  its  simple 
direct  form,  the  voices  in  characteristic  four-part  har- 
mony being  usually  only  doubled  by  the  instruments. 
This  ending  with  the  simple  chorale  sung  once  through 
is  obviously  another  specialty  of  the  Reformed  service; 
as,  apart  from  intrinsic  qualities  of  an  impressive  kind, 
so  short  and  undeveloped  a  movement  would  not 
appear  sufficiently  spacious  to  serve  as  the  conclusion 
of  a  large  work  for  chorus,  soli,  and  orchestra.  It  was 
the  deep-seated  veneration  for  the  chorale  and  its 
devotional  associations  which  gave  it  significance 
enough  to  serve  such  a  purpose.  In  later  times,  when 
the  works  can  hardly  be  heard  at  all  except  in  the 
secular  surroundings  of  a  concert  room,  it  is  natural 
for  those  who  undertake  performances  to  look  for  such 
cantatas  as  have  the  chorales  expanded  by  free  instru- 
mental accompaniments,  or  such  exceptional  cantatas 
as  have  free  choruses  at  the  end;  and  as  these  in  the 
later  cantatas  are  few  and  not  by  any  means  necessarily 
the  finest  examples,  circumstances  militate  against  their 
becoming  known  sufficiently  to  be  appreciated.  But 
on  the  other  hand  it  may  be  said  that  Bach's  unique 
manner  of  harmonising  the  final  chorales  gives  them 
special  fascination;  and  it  may  be  further  added  that 
in  such  a  case  the  advantages  of  musical  culture  are 


The  Latest  Cantatas  387 

yet  again  manifested;  for  while  those  who  are  ignorant 
of  the  conditions  for  which  these  cantatas  were  com- 
posed would  be  puzzled  at  the  apparent  inadequacy  of 
the  fmale,  those  who  are  more  happily  placed  can,  with 
the  help  of  a  little  experience,  so  transfer  themselves  in 
imagination  to  the  situation  which  Bach  had  in  his 
mind,  as  to  feel  through  the  exercise  of  developed 
artistic  perception  almost  the  full  meaning  of  the 
concluding  chorale  and  its  adequacy  as  an  element  of 
design. 

Of  the  two  types  of  cantata,  those  which  begin  with 
the  instrumental  introduction  and  alternate  phrases 
of  the  chorale  with  episodes,  and  those  which  begin 
with  a  chorus  on  the  lines  of  the  Pachelbel  Choral- 
vorspiel,  it  so  happens  opportunely  that  two  of  the 
fmest  cantatas  written  by  Bach  in  the  latter  part  of  his 
life  are  remarkable  examples.  Of  the  first  order  is  the 
cantata  JVachet  auf  which  belongs  to  the  very  outset 
of  the  period  under  consideration,  as  there  seems  suffi- 
cient reason  to  believe  that  it  was  written  for  the  twenty- 
seventh  Sunday  after  Trinity  in  1731.  The  occasion 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  of  sufficient  importance  to 
account  for  the  exceptional  splendour  of  the  work,  as 
it  cannot  be  supposed  that  the  mere  fact  that  Sundays 
after  Trinity  do  not  often  run  to  such  a  number  could 
have  been  in  the  least  inspiring.  The  source  of  the 
exceptional  warmth  and  beauty  of  the  work  is  more 
likely  to  have  been  that  the  poem  was  congenial  and 
suggestive,  that  the  subject  of  the  Bridegroom  and  the 
Virgins  appealed  to  Bach's  imagination  in  the  sym- 
bolical sense  of  its  application  to  humanity  at  large, 
and  that  the  chorale  tune  itself  was  exceptionally 
impressive. 


388  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

The  artistic  scheme  of  the  first  chorus  is  in  accord- 
ance with  that  above  described,  but  it  may  here  be 
considered  in  relation  to  expression  and  style.  The 
passage  which  serves  for  instrumental  introduction  is 
rather  shorter  than  usual,  as  though  Bach  wished  to 
come  to  the  point  at  once;  but  it  is  sufficiently  long 
to  establish  the  type  of  musical  figures  and  the  strenu- 
ous mood.  Bach's  instinct  for  style  made  him  here,  as 
in  a  great  majority  of  cases,  keep  the  musical  material 
of  the  instruments  distinct  from  that  allotted  to  the 
voices.  Their  function  is  to  supply  the  rhythmic  ele- 
ment and  the  more  vivacious  details  of  the  texture. 
The  rhythmic  element  is  manifested  in  a  march-like 
character  produced  by  the  energetic  trochees  combined 
with  the  three  stern  beats  of  the  molossus.  The  sec- 
ondary voices  on  the  other  hand  are  almost  unrhythmic; 
having  passages  with  cross-rhythms,  syncopations, 
overlapping  melodic  figures,  and  all  such  effects  as 
suggest  the  individuality  of  the  human  creatures 
singing  the  various  parts,  at  once  independent  and 
bound  together  by  the  unities  of  the  art-work  as  a 
whole.  The  twofold  scheme  of  the  instrumental  and 
vocal  factors  completes  the  scope  of  musical  expression, 
the  rhythmic  and  the  melodic;  the  former  representing 
the  extra-ecclesiastical  factors  which  had  not  pre- 
sented themselves  in  church  music  before  the  Reforma- 
tion, and  the  latter  the  primitive  types  of  sacred  music 
as  transformed  by  being  filtered  through  organ  music. 
And  over  and  above  all  the  astonishing  profusion  of 
devices  most  perfectly  assimilated  the  chorale  soars 
in  its  long-drawn  simplicity,  as  though  undistracted 
by  the  hurly-burly  of  the  other  voices  and  the  vivacity 
of  the  instrumental  accompaniment.     Yet  its  quasi- 


The  Latest  Cantatas  389 

aloofness  does  not  suggest  indifference,  but  something 
above  the  rest — noble  and  tranquil,  savouring  of  divine 
steadfastness. 

The  scheme  of  the  whole  chorus  follows  on  the  lines 
above  described,  the  phrases  of  the  chorale  alternating 
with  instrumental  episodes.  Bach  probably  felt  the 
drawback  of  the  form,  in  which  the  constant  stopping 
and  recommencement  of  the  voices  seriously  hampers 
the  development  of  climaxes;  but  he  makes  up  for  it 
by  the  realistic  suggestion  of  the  subordinate  voices 
shouting,  ''Wohl  auf ,  wohl  auf!  der  Braut'gam  kommt 
wohl  auf!"  "Steht  auf,  die  Lampen  nehmt,  steht  auf!" 
in  short  incisive  phrases,  as  though  suggesting  of  a 
verity  the  ardent  elation  of  actual  human  beings  in 
the  realisation  of  the  coming  of  the  Lord ;  and  by  in- 
troducing a  brilliant  fugal  "Alleluia,"  which  disguises 
and  bridges  over  the  gap  between  two  of  the  chorale 
phrases. 

The  enumeration  of  the  various  factors  of  artistic 
form  and  method  might  be  pursued  indefinitely.  They 
all  combine  and  assimilate  in  his  hands  to  interpret 
that  highly  composite  human  phenomenon,  religious 
devotionalism,  as  affected  by  association,  tradition, 
imagery,  sensibility,  and  mystery,  directed  in  this  case 
with  deep  poetic  insight  to  the  imposing  conception  of 
mankind  stirred  at  the  immediate  advent  of  the  Lord. 
Before  leaving  this  cantata  it  will  be  well  to  observe 
the  extent  to  which  it  presents  essentially  Teutonic 
qualities  in  other  movements  beside  the  first  chorus. 

After  this  movement  a  short  recitative  referring  to 
the  coming  of  the  Bridegroom  serves  to  introduce  one 
of  the  dialogues  between  Christ  and  the  Church  which 
were  so  characteristic  of  Te'^tonic  Protestantism  and 


390  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

so  sympathetic  to  Bach.  The  soprano,  impersonating 
the  Church,  sings  Wann  kommst  du,  mein  Heil  ? 
and  the  bass,  impersonating  Christ,  answers  Ich 
komme,  dein  Theil,  in  short  and  tender  phrases,  all 
held  together  in  unity  by  the  elaborately  melodious 
solo  for  violino  piccolo  which  is  the  main  feature  of  the 
accompaniment. 

Upon  this  follows  another  verse  of  the  hymn,  Zion 
hortdie  WdcMer  singen,  the  chorale  tune  being  given  to 
the  tenors  alone,  with  an  accompaniment  based  on  origi- 
nal figures  which  have  quite  an  exceptional  fascination. 
A  highly  sympathetic  writer  on  Bach  suggests  that 
this  singular  and  delightful  passage  has  the  intention 
of  a  dance  tune;  by  which  is  indicated  that  Bach  had 
in  his  mind  the  procession  of  the  betrothed,  and  the 
joyous  attendance  of  the  virgins,  whose  gestures  have 
a  wayward  grace  which  is  suggestive  of  Botticelli. 
At  first  the  quaintness  of  the  suggestion  rather  balks 
acquiescence.  But  when  the  extraordinary  vivacity 
of  Bach's  imagination  is  taken  into  account  it  may  be 
admitted  that  among  the  many  things  which  in- 
fluenced the  product,  the  idea  of  the  virgins  of  allegory 
participating  in  the  welcome  of  the  heavenly  Bride- 
groom may  have  had  a  share.  Apart  from  its  delight- 
ful intrinsic  qualities  the  movement  is  interesting  for 
affording  such  a  conspicuous  illustration  of  Bach's 
habit  of  transferring  organ  types  of  form  to  vocal 
music;  as  the  movement  makes  its  appearance  as  an 
organ  Choralvorspiel  in  the  collection  known  as  the 
"Sechs  Schiiblerschen  Chorale,"  with  no  alteration 
except  the  omission  of  the  figures  which  indicate 
chords  to  be  used  as  accompaniment  in  the  present 
instance. 


The  Latest  Cantatas  391 

The  movement  is  followed  by  a  recitative  for  bass, 
evidently  impersonating  Christ,  which  serves  as  the 
preliminary  to  another  dialogue  between  Christ  and 
the  Church,  Mein  Freund  ist  mein,  Und  ich  bin 
dein,  which  breathes  throughout  a  placid  joy.  The 
dialogue  character  is  not  so  pronounced  as  in  the  first 
duet,  for  the  phrases  are  longer  and  more  melodi- 
ous; moreover  the  movement  is  named  "aria"  and  la- 
bours under  the  disadvantage  of  having  a  da  capo; 
which  Bach  must  have  indicated  without  sufficient 
deliberation.  The  scheme  of  the  whole  work  is  com- 
pleted by  the  usual  process  of  singing  the  chorale, 
Wachet  auf,  simply  harmonised  in  four  parts.  In 
this  case  it  will  be  observed  that  the  chorale  appears 
in  three  forms— as  the  principal  feature  of  the  first 
chorus,  in  the  form  of  the  Choral vorspiel  in  the 
middle  of  the  work,  and  in  its  noble  unadorned  sim- 
plicity at  the  end.  It  must  not  be  overlooked,  moreover, 
in  this  case  that  the  reversion  in  the  Teutonic  direction 
is  illustrated  by  the  adoption  of  the  dialogue  form  in 
the  place  of  the  Italian  form  of  aria.  For  in  spite  of 
the  da  capo  the  texture  and  expressiveness  of  the 
so-called  aria  duet  are  much  more  Teutonic  in  character 
than  the  solo  arias  of  the  earlier  Leipzig  period. 

In  the  depth  and  fervour  of  its  Teutonic  char- 
acter the  cantata  Em  feste  Burg  is  fully  equal  to 
Wachet  auf  and,  as  has  been  mentioned  above, 
it  contains  a  very  striking  illustration  of  the  Cho- 
ralvorspiel  type  of  first  chorus,  as  compared  with 
the  harmonic  scheme  of  the  first  chorus  in  the 
other  cantata.  It  is  even  more  than  ordinarily  dif- 
ficult to  fix  the  date  of  the  work  decisively.  Its 
pre-eminent  grandeur  has  inspired  the  belief  that  it 


392  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

must  have  been  written  for  some  great  occasion,  and 
the  choice  of  Luther's  words  and  the  conspicuous  use 
of  Luther's  tune  as  the  prevailing  musical  feature  have 
suggested  the  idea  that  it  was  composed  for  some 
Reformation  festival.  It  appears  possible  that  it  was 
written  for  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the 
introduction  of  the  reformed  tenets  into  Saxony,  in 
1739.  As  the  proofs  are  circumstantial  rather  than 
direct  it  is  better  not  to  lay  much  stress  upon  them, 
recalling  the  fact  that  Bach  was  of  such  a  disposition 
that  a  subject  which  appealed  to  and  aroused  his 
imaginative  faculties  brought  into  play  his  highest 
artistic  powers  whatever  the  occasion. 

The  first  chorus  is  of  huge  dimensions,  and  over- 
whelming energy,  expressing  in  some  indefinable  way 
the  strenuous  confidence  in  the  "feste  Burg."  Being, 
as  has  been  said,  in  the  form  of  a  Choraleprelude  it 
begins  at  once,  without  instrumental  preliminary,  with 
the  first  phrase  of  the  famous  chorale,  slightly  orna- 
mental in  detail,  and  treated  fugally  by  the  voices, 
which  enter  successively.  This  must,  of  course,  be 
regarded  as  anticipatory  to  the  entry  of  the  actual 
recital  of  the  chorale,  which  comes  in,  in  long  notes, 
as  the  culmination  of  the  opening  passage  of  twenty- 
four  bars;  being  presented,  not  as  usual,  by  the  voices, 
but  by  the  accompanying  instruments.  This  is  such 
a  striking  departure  and  is  carried  out  with  such  as- 
tounding skill  and  power  of  suggestion,  that  the 
scheme  may  profitably  be  considered   in  detail. 

There  is  hardly  any  work  which  carries  out  with 
such  amazing  strength  and  consistency  the  problems 
which  Bach  set  himself  to  solve.  When  he  introduced 
the  chorale  in  the  trumpets  and  hautboys  as  the  cul- 


The  Latest  Cantatas  393 

mination  of  the  initial  part  of  the  chorus,  he  must  have 
welcomed  the  discovery  that  this  phrase  of  the  tune 
admitted  of  being  treated  in  canon,  because  the  bril- 
liant sound  of  the  trumpets  and  hautboys  could  be 
answered  at  once  at  the  opposite  end  of  the  scale  by 
the  basses,  thus  enveloping  the  whole  music  from  top 
to  bottom  in  the  chorale  phrase,  which  is  as  it  were 
the  radiating  symbol  expressing  the  exhilarating  con- 
fidence in  the  "Strong  tower."  But  having  once  pre- 
sented a  phrase  of  the  chorale  in  canon,  Bach  was 
bound  by  his  sense  of  artistic  responsibility  not  to 
drop  so  noticeable  a  feature,  and  he  therefore  faced  the 
arduous  task  of  treating  all  the  other  phrases  of  the 
chorale  in  canon  on  the  same  terms.  And  it  may  be 
frankly  said  that  if  he  had  not  done  so  the  effect  made 
by  all  the  latter  part  of  the  chorus  would  have  been 
weakened.  It  was  quite  within  the  bounds  of  possi- 
bility that  the  later  phrases  of  the  chorale  would  not 
admit  of  being  so  treated.  But  some  master  minds 
seem  to  be  able  to  disregard  the  ordinary  laws  of  nature. 
Bach  achieves  the  approximately  impossible  without 
having  to  take  the  smallest  trouble  about  it.  Every 
phrase  of  the  chorale  enunciated  by  the  high  and  pierc- 
ing instruments  is  answered  immediately  by  the  basses 
in  the  next  bar,  while  all  the  voices  go  on  vivaciously 
discoursing  in  elaborate  polyphony;  and  not  only  so 
but  the  very  device  of  the  canon  is  made  to  minister 
to  the  intrinsic  expression  of  the  music  itself.  Such 
intimate  detail  is  on  the  verge  of  present  limits, 
bat  reference  may  be  made  to  the  simple  procedure 
of  the  close,  when  the  penultimate  step  of  the  fmal 
phrase  of  the  tune  entails,  by  the  canonic  procedure, 
a  simple  suspension   of  the  fmal  note  in  the  treble, 


394  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

which  is  thereby  forced  momentarily  downwards  and 
takes  its  course  through  the  expressive  minor  seventh 
of  the  scale,  and  begets  the  suggestion  of  the  modifica- 
tion of  the  fmal  phrase,  which  is  sung  fortissimo  by  the 
basses  in  their  most  powerful  register  over  the  fmal 
tonic  pedal. 

The  scope  of  the  chorus  represents  Bach's  maturity 
at  its  very  richest;  the  accumulation  of  resources 
through  all  the  years  of  persistent  labour  provides  a 
presentment  of  his  artistic  and  temperamental  per- 
sonality in  fullest  measure,  and  in  terms  of  the  race  of 
which  in  modern  times  he  was  the  first  great  spiritual 
manifestation. 

The  only  other  movement  in  the  cantata,  Und  wenn 
die  Welt  voll  Teujel  war  ,  v/hich  was  written  at  the 
same  time  with  the  first  chorus,  matched  it  in  strength 
and  impressiveness.  It  represents  rather  an  unusual  de- 
parture for  Bach,  as  all  the  voices  sing  the  chorale  in 
unison  with  a  most  energetic  and  uplifting  accompani- 
ment, including  trumpets  and  drums.  The  rest  of  the 
movements  are  borrowed  from  a  much  earlier  Weimar 
cantata,  Alles  was  von  Gott  gehoren.  The  fact  of  this 
cantata  having  been  written  in  the  Weimar  time  is, 
however,  fortunate  in  maintaining  the  Teutonic  spirit 
of  the  whole,  so  no  incongruity  of  style  is  perceptible. 
The  chorale  makes  conspicuous  appearance  in  the 
second  movement,  which,  though  called  an  aria,  is  a 
recital  of  the  great  tune,  with  elaborate  variation  of 
detail,  by  soprano  solo,  accompanied  by  independent 
solo  for  bass  and  brilliant  passages  for  the  instruments. 
The  so-called  recitatives  are  both  amalgamated  with 
passages  in  arioso  form — ^the  ideal  Teutonic  type  lying 
betwixt  the  formal  aria  and  the  dry  recitative.     The 


The  Latest  Cantatas  395 

final  movement  is  the  usual  four-part  chorale  very 
strikingly  harmonised.  The  Teutonic  qualities  are 
therefore  amply  spread  through  the  whole  work,  and 
the  famous  chorale  plays  as  conspicuous  a  part  as  in 
the  cantata  Wachet  auf. 

But  perhaps  it  will  be  as  well  to  recognise  ex- 
ceptions to  such  procedure  at  the  outset.  Bach 
seems  at  times  to  emphasise  the  Teutonic  attitude 
of  mind  by  distributing  the  chorale  element  in  a  differ- 
ent fashion,  as  is  the  case  with  the  cantata  Gott  der 
Herr  which  appears  to  have  been  written  for  a  Refor- 
mation festival  in  1735.  The  difference  is  emphasised 
at  the  outset,  inasmuch  as  the  first  chorus  is  not 
associated  with  a  chorale.  The  share  which  the  or- 
chestra takes  in  the  operations  is  unusually  prominent. 
There  is  a  long  instrumental  introduction  with  lively 
passages  for  two  horns,  and  when  the  voices  join  in,  it 
is  at  first  in  short  emphatic  episodes,  asserting  with 
vehemence  Goti,  der  Herr,  ist  Sonn  und  Schild  in 
a  sort  of  warlike  spirit.  The  short  bursts  gather 
closer  as  the  movement  proceeds,  and  the  general 
scheme  of  the  chorus  is  rendered  threefold,  by  a  long 
brilliant  polyphonic  portion  in  the  middle  which  is 
followed  by  a  return  of  the  opening  phrase  at  the  end 
to  round  off  the  whole.  The  musical  qualities  of  the 
work,  in  which  there  are  two  arias,  are  rather 
mechanical,  and  its  scale  is  not  large,  but  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  use  of  two  chorales  is  emphasised 
gives  it  a  special  character.  That  used  at  the  end 
in  the  direct  four-part  form  is  Wach  auf,  mein 
Her{,  und  singe,  and  the  chorale  in  the  middle 
of  the  work  is  Nun  danket  Alle  Gott,  which  there- 
fore occupies  the  same  position   as  it   does  in  Men- 


39<5  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

delssohn's  "Lobgesang,"  and  by  a  further  singular 
coincidence  is  treated  in  the  same  way;  the  phrases 
of  the  chorale  alternating,  as  in  that  well-known 
movement,  with  instrumental  episodes.  Apart  from 
this  coincidence  it  is  to  be  observed  that  Bach  uses 
horns  and  drums  in  the  instrumental  accompaniment, 
and  gives  them  the  principal  instrumental  subject  of 
the  first  chorus  to  play,  thereby  uniting  the  opening 
and  the  middle  of  the  cantata. 

The  use  of  several  chorales  in  a  single  work,  as  has 
been  remarked,  is  by  no  means  common.  In  earlier 
years  a  few  examples  are  found,  such  as  the  beautiful 
early  cantata  Goites  Zeii  and  Schau\  lieher  Goti,  in 
both  of  which  three  different  chorales  are  introduced; 
and  also  Halt'  im  Geddchtniss,  JVarlich  ich  sage  euch, 
IVo  gehest  du,  So  du  mil  deinem,  Munde,  Der  Friede 
set  mil  Dir,  Sie  werden  euch  No.  i ,  Da^u  ist  erschienen 
and  Sehet  welch  cine  Liehe.  A  special  position  is 
suggested  by  the  cantata  Schwingt  jreudig  euch 
enipor.  In  cases  where  the  chorale  makes  the  cen- 
tral feature  and  radiating  force,  it  is  hardly  necessary 
to  observe  that  it  must  have  been  in  the  composer's 
mind  from  the  first.  But  this  cantata  was  origi- 
nally composed  without  any  chorales,  since  the 
first  appearance  of  its  principal  movements  was 
in  a  secular  cantata  in  the  honour  of  a  birthday  of 
the  Princess  of  Anhalt-Cothen.  When  Bach  used  up 
the  materials  of  four  numbers  for  the  first  Sunday  in 
Advent,  he  could  not  convert  the  first  chorus  into  a 
chorale  chorus,  but  he  enhanced  the  value  of  the  work 
enormously  for  sacred  purposes  by  adding  several 
chorale  movements.  Immediately  after  the  first  chorus 
he  inserted  an  elaborate  and  interesting  duet  for  so- 


The  Latest  Cantatas  397 

prano  and  alto  on  the  tune  of  Nun  komm',  der  Heiden 
Heiland;  then  follows  one  of  the  movements  borrowed 
from  the  secular  cantatas,  which  must  be  admitted  to 
be  rather  perfunctory  in  character,  and  another  chorale 
is  introduced  to  conclude  the  first  part  of  the  work. 
In  the  second  part  another  new  movement  is  introduced 
in  the  shape  of  a  tenor  aria  which  consists  of  the  tune 
of  Nun  komm  der  Heiden  Heiland  again,  with  lively 
accompaniment  of  two  oboi  d'amore,  and  the  whole  is 
made  to  end  with  the  usual  straightforward  four-part 
version  of  the  same  chorale.  From  which  it  is  to  be 
observed  that  all  the  inserted  movements  are  founded 
on  chorales,  and  that  the  tune  which  ends  the  first  half 
is  different  from  that  which  ends  the  whole. 

The  most  prominent  instance  of  the  use  of  many 
chorales  in  one  work  is  Christus  der  isi  mein  Lehen, 
which  was  probably  written  in  1732  and  therefore 
belongs  to  the  latest  period.  The  first  chorus  consists 
of  two  different  chorale  fantasias  with  a  discursive 
tenor  solo  joining  them  together.  The  first  of  these 
is  on  the  chorale  of  the  name  of  the  cantata,  which  is 
presented  simply  in  four-part  harmony  with  fully 
independent  instrumental  accompaniment,  in  which 
a  charming  phrase  for  two  oboi  d'amore  seems  to 
hover  ceaselessly  in  the  background  expressing  ten- 
der longing  and  contentment.  The  most  striking  fea- 
ture is  a  wonderful  expansion  of  the  beginning  of  the 
second  phrase  of  the  chorale  to  dwell  upon  the  word 
'Sterben."  Those  who  hear  with  the  understanding 
can  feel  how  the  words  "Sterben  ist  mein  Gewinn'' 
gripped  the  composer.  When  the  tenor  solo  which 
follows  the  first  part  of  the  chorus  is  going  on  the  hearer 
sadly  wants  to  know  exactly  what  Bach  meant  by  the 


39^  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

lovable  little  phrase  of  the  oboe  d'amore  above  men- 
tioned, for  in  the  alternation  of  recitative  and  strict 
tempo  it  always  ceases  with  the  former  and  goes  on 
with  the  latter.  From  the  technical  point  of  view  the 
purpose  is  obvious,  but  from  the  point  of  view  of  ex- 
pression the  hearer  feels  that  some  beautiful  poetic 
thought  is  there  but  cannot  be  formulated.  The  words 
here  refer  to  the  "Sterbelied"  which  he  has  made, 
"Would  that  to-day  I  might  sing  it,"  and  then  the  music 
takes  a  totally  new  departure  w^ith  the  noble  chorale, 
Mit  Fried'  und  Freud'  ich  fahr  dahin,  with  a  moving 
bass  which  no  doubt  cam.e  into  the  comiposer's  mind  at 
the  suggestion  of  the  words  ''ich  fahr'  dahin."  The 
latter  part  of  the  movement  is  in  the  same  form  as  the 
first  part  and  has  som.e  exquisitely  tender  passages  in 
it,  but  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  experiment  of  com- 
bining two  dilTerent  chorales  in  one  movement  does 
not  appear  to  answer.  It  gives  a  sense  of  artistic  in- 
coherence, which  is  accentuated  by  the  first  part  being 
very  rich  in  material  and  in  three-time,  while  the  last 
portion  is  in  four-time,  and  the  tender  oboe  d'amore 
figure  disappears  entirely  in  the  final  portion,  which 
therefore  is  not  so  interesting  or  suggestive  as  the  first. 
A  short  recitative  for  soprano  expresses  the  content  of 
the  Christian  that  he  has  done  with  the  false  world,  and 
passes  on  into  the  chorale,  yalet  will  ich  dir  gehen, 
sung  by  the  soprano  with  a  beautifully  intricate  ac- 
companiment. The  following  recitative  for  tenor  solo 
refers  to  "  Death  the  end  of  all  trouble,"  and  then  fol- 
lows one  of  the  strangest  arias  Bach  ever  wrote — an 
adagio  to  the  words  "Strike  soon,  O  blessed  hour." 
The  joy  of  the  movement  is  the  extraordinarily  in- 
genuous   accompaniment,    most    subtly    thought   out 


The  Latest  Cantatas  399 

from  the  point  of  view  of  colour,  with  oboi  d'amore  and 
pizzicato  strings;  and  in  the  poetic  presentment  of 
bells  and  tranquil  lullabies  suggesting  an  anticipation 
of  some  dainty  French  lyrical  inspiration  such  as  might 
even  have  visited  Stephen  Heller  in  his  best  moments. 
This  music  forms  the  basis  of  nearly  all  the  movement, 
and  on  the  top  of  it  comes  a  declamatory  tenor  solo 
which  is  frankly  impossible.  The  mere  sight  of  it  is 
enough  to  make  any  sensitive  person's  throat  ache — 
and  it  is  so  angular  as  well  as  so  high  that  it  does  not 
assimilate  with  the  tender  accompaniment.  It  seems 
in  this  case  that  Bach  conceived  the  beautiful  music 
of  the  accompaniment  to  express  the  words,  and  tried 
to  put  the  tenor  voice  in  afterwards,  and  did  not  get 
his  faculties  to  take  in  the  whole  situation!  Moreover 
the  solo  is  of  superhuman  length,  and  if  the  singer  ever 
got  to  the  end  he  would  have  to  sing  more  than  half  of 
it  over  again,  if  he  was  loyal  to  that  direction — da  capo, 
which  was  often  written  with  such  fatal  ease  and  lack  of 
consideration.  A  recitative  for  bass  follows,  the  cue 
of  which  is  "Mein  Tod  ist  nur  ein  Schlaf"  with  a  fine 
and  characteristic  nielismatic  close,  and  the  fourth 
chorale,  Wenn  mein  Stiindlein  vorhanden  ist,  is 
given  to  the  words  "Weil  du  vom  Tod  erstanden  bist  " 
in  the  usual  form  with  an  independent  part  for  violin 
at  the  top  making  a  fifth  part.  The  chorale  is  a  very 
fine  one,  and  the  harmonization  up  to  the  level  of  the 
finest  and  broadest  that  Bach  ever  achieved — in  which 
every  part,  but  especially  the  bass,  is  a  joy  to  sing,  for 
every  singer  feels  he  is  a  partaker  in  the  noblest  ex- 
pression of  the  words. 

Enough  has  been  said  to  indicate  that  this  is  intrin- 
sically one  of  the  most   interesting  and   poetical  of 


400  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

Bach's  cantatas;  so  the  experiment  of  using  four  cho- 
rales in  a  single  cantata  has  the  fairest  of  chances^ 
especially  as  all  four  chorales  are  of  the  finest  qual- 
ity. But  the  effect  is  happily  restricted  to  a  very 
special  occasion,  the  clue  to  which  is  not  discoverable. 
For  the  cantata  is  evidently  a  funeral  cantata,  though 
it  is  specified  only  as  for  the  sixteenth  Sunday  after 
Trinity,  and  Bach  clearly  felt  that  except  for  such 
special  circumstances  the  impression  was  stronger, 
weightier,  and  more  significant  if  the  cantata  centred 
on  one  chorale  alone. 

A  striking  example  of  the  concentration  of  the  whole 
cantata  on  a  single  chorale  is  the  setting  of  Neander's 
hymn,  Lobe  den  Herren,  den  mdchtigen  Konig  der 
Ehren,  which  was  probably  written  in  1732.  The 
first  chorus,  which  is  of  the  exultant  order  with  trum- 
pets and  drums,  is  in  the  chorale-fantasia  form  with 
the  chorale  in  the  soprano,  and  the  subordinate  voices 
echoing  the  tune.  The  second  movement  is  for  alto 
and  is  called  an  aria,  but  the  voice  part  consists  of  an 
ornate  version  of  the  chorale.  The  third  is  an  aria- 
duet  for  soprano  and  bass  in  which  the  voices  have 
free  variations  of  the  chorale.  The  fourth  movement 
is  an  aria  for  tenor  with  the  chorale  played  by  the 
trumpet,  and  the  last  movement  is  the  usual  present- 
ment of  the  chorale,  but  with  the  addition  of  three 
independent  trumpet  parts.  So  every  movement  is 
associated  with  the  chorale,  implying  clearly  that 
"Lobe  den  Herren"  is  the  text  of  the  whole  work. 

There  are  certain  types  of  procedure  which  Bach 
specially  favoured  in  dealing  with  the  chorale  in  the 
inner  movements  of  the  cantatas.  The  most  remark- 
able is  a  combination  of  the  phrases  of  the  chorale  with 


The  Latest  Cantatas  401 

recitative.  The  process  is  sometimes  carried  out  by 
two  voices,  sometimes  by  the  choir  singing  the  phrases 
of  the  chorale  in  four  parts  and  the  recitative  for  solo 
voice  forming  episodes  between  the  lines,  and  some- 
times a  single  voice  deals  with  both  the  chorale  and 
the  recitative.  There  is  a  very  remarkable  example  of 
the  latter  kind,  in  the  second  movement  of  the  fme 
cantata  Ich  hah  in  Gottes  Her^  und  Sinn.  The  actual 
chorale  which  is  used  in  the  first  chorus  and  in  several 
other  movements  is  Was  mein  Goit  will.  The  sec- 
ond movement  is  a  recitative  and  chorale  combined  for 
bass.  It  has  only  a  figured  bass,  but  the  passages  are 
so  graphically  suggestive  in  some  parts,  and  so  happily 
representative  of  the  chorale  in  others,  that  the  move- 
ment forms  quite  a  striking  illustration  of  the  complex 
artistic  personality  of  the  composer.  It  is  notable  that 
whenever  the  chorale  is  going  on  the  accompaniment 
is  always  closely  connected  with  the  first  phrase  of  the 
tune,  which  commences  as  follows: 


-:svrti- 


4: 


— ^pi — — 1 1 ^        ^  ^ 1  ^ 


Es      kann    mir     feh  -  len       nim  -  mer-mehr! 

and  the  accompanying  bass  of  the  introductory  pas- 
sage anticipates  it  in  this  manner: 


but  in  all  the  episodal  recitatives  the  bass  follows 
freely  the  suggestions  of  the  words;  with  runs  in  demi- 
semiquavers  and  passages  suggesting  waves  of  the 
sea. 


26 


402  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 


^,-^^#=^h:— •-•-•^^•-•-i^ 


^r^-i^^^--;-i-»-:i: 


Etc. 


The  voice  part  in  the  recitative  portions  is  in  Bach's 
most  daring  and  graphic  style,  which  entails  marked 
contrast  between  them  and  the  chorale  portions. 
It  is  also  important  to  note  that  in  these  combina- 
tions of  chorale  and  recitative  for  a  single  voice 
the  chorale  is  often  represented  by  but  a  very  small 
fragment  at  a  time,  which  it  would  require  the  most 
intimate  knowledge  of  the  tune  to  identify.  A  short 
illustration  will  show  to  what  an  extent  this  close 
interchange   is   carried. 


Chorale. 


Eecit. 


Chokale. 


Und  mein  Ge  -  miith  dassimmerwanktundweichtin  seiner 
Eecit.  Choualk. 

Gut'         der  an  Bestandigkeit  nichts  gleicht,  ge  -  woh  -  nen 
Chorale. 
'  .^m-^^m ,^=v tr 


^-^■. 


~-Et%tf±E^- 


E 


fast zu  ste     -         -         -         -      hen. 

But  everything  in  art  depends  on  the  context. 
In  this  case  the  combined  chorale  and  recitative 
undoubtedly  present  a  very  restless  and  unquiet 
effect,   though    highly   interesting.      A   forcible,    even 


The  Latest  Cantatas  403 

agitated,  tenor  solo  follows,  and  then  the  chorale 
makes  its  reappearance  in  a  totally  different  form, 
which  reest^Lbiishes  the  balance  on  the  side  of  calm 
and  placid  beauty;  for  the  alto  sings  the  tune  right 
through,  quite  simply,  with  one  of  Bach's  uniquely 
flowing  and  soothing  accompaniments.  This  can- 
tata is  indeed  a  perfect  storehouse  of  chorale 
movements,  for  after  a  brilliant  and  restless  solo  for 
bass.  Das  Brausen  von  den  raiihen  Winden,  follows 
an  exam.ple  of  the  other  type  of  chorale  and  recitative 
mentioned  above,  in  which  the  choir  sing  the  phrases  of 
the  chorale  in  four  parts  and  solo  voices  answer  in 
recitative.  In  this  case  all  the  voices  take  a  share. 
After  the  first  two  phrases,  very  subtly  harmonised,  the 
bass  answers  with  recitative.  The  two  phrases  are 
repeated  with  slight  variation,  and  the  tenor  answers; 
the  next  two  phrases  are  sung  by  the  choir,  with 
answering  recitative  by  the  alto,  and  the  two  final 
phrases  (which  are  fortunately  in  this  case  the  same  as 
the  first)  are  sung  by  the  choir,  the  soprano  solo  com- 
pleting the  whole  with  the  final  passage  of  recitative. 
The  form  in  this  case  is  undoubtedly  most  effective, 
and  leads  to  a  delightfully  innocent  and  confiding  aria 
for  soprano,  Meinem  Hirten  bleib'  ich  treu,  ending 
with  the  touching  words  ''Amen,  Amen  Vater  nimm 
mich  an!"  the  work  being  rounded  off  with  the  final 
statement  of  the  chorale  to  words  of  solemn  signifi- 
cance. The  whole  cantata  is  a  remarkable  example 
of  the  effect  which  Bach  could  produce  by  intermingling 
freely  composed  movements  with  movements  based 
on  chorales,  and  it  is  indeed  of  the  quality  which  be- 
tokens that  his  powers  and  feelings  were  in  their  most 
vigorous  condition. 


404  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

Another  most  superb  example  of  the  combination  of 
chorale  and  recitative  is  the  bass  recitative  0  JVunder 
dass  ein  Heri  in  the  cantata  Mil  Fried'  und  Freud' 
ich  jahr  dahin.  The  methods  of  treatment  are  here 
entirely  different.  The  accompaniment  begins  at 
cnce  with  a  discord,  and  presents  a  definite  figure  of 
sti  king  character  which  persists  through  the  whole 
movement  and  thereby  unifies  it  completely — 


m 


M- 


:^=ir-^— ^— z^iT^-^- 


:-t=: 


O  Wunder  dass  ein  Herz 

STUINfiS. 


-6^2*r-s/ 


Etc. 


therein  showing  kinship  with  the  wonderful  ariosos 
in  the^Matthaus-Passion,"  such  as  "Ach  Golgatha," 
while  the  solo  voice  alternates  its  contemplations  in  reci- 
tative and  phrases  from  the  chorale.  This  pro- 
cedure obviates  the  restless  elTect  which  is  produced 
by  the  elaborate  movement  above  described  in  the 
cantata  Ich  hah'  in  Goites  Her{  und  Sinn,  but  the 
disposition  of  the  alternative  phrases  in  the  voice  part 
is  much  the  same,  and  becomes  close  and  continuous 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  movement.  The  manner  in 
which  the  respective  phrases  are  managed  may  be  seen 
from  the  opening  sentences.  The  recitative  begins 
"O  wonder  that  the  heart  is  not  in  consternation  at  the 


The  Latest  Cantatas  405 

thought  of  the  pains  of  death!"  and  the  chorale 
answers  "That  is  through  Christ,  true  Son  of  God,  the 
Holy  One!" 

The  position  of  this  movement  in  the  cantata  is 
peculiarly  happy,  as  it  follows  a  slow  aria  for  alto  of  the 
richest  and  most  expressive  texture;  and  its  close 
(which  consists  of  one  of  the  melismatic  passages  of 
which  Bach  had  the  supreme  secret,  to  the  word  "ster- 
ben")  is  most  happily  followed  by  a  light  and  animated 
duet.  The  whole  cantata  is  indeed  of  the  very  highest 
quality,  for  the  chorale  chorus  with  which  it  begins  is 
full  of  the  most  exquisite  poetry,  and  the  close,  Der 
Tod  ist  mein  Schlaj  warden,  is  one  of  the  most  pathetic 
and  tender  moments  in  all  the  cantatas.  The  singular 
fascination  which  the  idea  of  beautiful  death  had  for 
Bach  is  indeed  a  manifestation  of  a  phase  of  his  per- 
sonality which  is  as  wonderful  as  the  supreme  terms 
of  art  in  which  it  is  expressed. 

Various  circumstances  have  ministered  to  the  making 
of  the  chorale  Vater  unser  im  Himmelreich  one  of 
the  most  familiar  of  the  tunes  outside  Germany ;  and 
the  cantata  Nimm  von  uns,  Herr,  du  treuer  Goit — 
in  which  all  the  movements  but  one  are  either  founded 
on  or  closely  connected  with  that  tune — brings  home 
forcibly  the  spirit  and  purpose  of  the  various  fashions 
in  which  Bach  makes  use  of  the  chorales.  The  first 
chorus  is  rather  bald  and  is  devoid  of  the  usual  interest 
of  romantic  detail.  There  is  no  great  difference  between 
the  treatment  of  the  instruments  and  the  voices,  so 
that  one  element  of  interest  which  is  often  of  such 
conspicuous  value  with  Bach  is  absent.  The  reason 
probably  is  that  as  far  as  the  voices  are  concerned  the 
movement  is  absolutely  in   the  form  of  a  choral vor- 


4o6  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

spiel.  The  first  line  of  the  familiar  tune  is  prefaced 
by  the  successive  entries  of  the  lower  voices  singing  it 
in  imitation  in  minims;  and,  when  they  are  all  assem- 
bled, the  sopranos  join  in  with  the  tune  in  semibreves. 
The  same  procedure  is  followed  with  every  phrase  of 
the  tune  with  absolute  loyalty  to  the  principle.  But 
the  movement  differs  from  other  choralvorspiel  move- 
ments in  the  fact  that  it  has  an  orchestral  introduction, 
and  that  each  phrase  of  the  tune  alternates  with  long 
orchestral  episodes;  so  that  the  chorus  is  a  rather  rare 
and  significant  example  of  a  combination  of  the  two 
types  of  chorale-chorus.  But  it  so  happens  that  the 
other  great  choruses  which  are  in  the  choralvorspiel 
form  are  in  contrapuntal  vocal  style,  and  have  no 
free  instrumental  accompaniment;  and  so,  when  Bach 
was  moved  to  combine  the  two  forms,  the  power  of 
association  made  him  forego  the  instrumental  luxuri- 
ance which  would  have  distracted  the  mind  from  "the 
beauty  of  the  simple  interweaving  of  the  strands  of  the 
chorale  tune.  But  in  music  the  multitudinous  implica- 
tions of  every  phase  distract  the  judgment  from  deciding 
which  influence  was  foremost  in  the  composer's  mind. 
The  sentiment  of  the  verse  set  is  peculiarly  severe, 
and  is  expressed  without  any  of  the  tenderness  which 
saved  so  many  of  the  Lutheran  poetic  utterances  from 
harshness.  So  Bach's  choice  of  a  severe  and  unor- 
nate  style  is  just  as  appropriate  from  this  point  of 
view  as  it  is  from  the  purely  artistic  point  of 
view.  The  details  might  be  followed  out  at  great 
length;  for  though  the  instrumental  accompani- 
ment is  so  severe,  yet  in  an  inconspicuous  man- 
ner Bach  makes  an  almost  ceaseless  use  of  a  short 
musical  figure  of  this  type: 


The  Latest  Cantatas 


407 


:fi*=?-^ 


--^^ 


u- 


to  convey  the  suggestion  of  humbled  sadness  con- 
tained in  the  words  "  Die  wir  mit  Stinden  ohne  Zahl 
verdienet  haben  allzumal,"  which  are  mainly  the 
cue  to  the  expression  of  the  chorus.  The  figure 
is  one  which  might  be  called  a  type-formula. 
It  may  have  been  more  or  less  unconscious,  but 
undoubtedly  special  definite  sentiments  very  often 
suggested  to  Bach  similar  types  of  musical  figures, 
as  has  been  several  times  pointed  out.  The  most 
familiar  parallel  in  this  case  is  the  "Et  incarnatus 
est"  in  the  B  minor  mass,  where  the  accompaniment 
is   entirely  knit  of  the  following   passage; 


from  this  point  of  view  it  would  be  a  very  interesting 
inquiry  what  Bach  means  by  the  almost  prostrate 
melancholy  of  that  deeply  emotional  chorus.  The  clue 
might  be  found  by  comparing  many  instances  of  the 
occurrence  of  a  similar  figure.  It  may  indeed  be  said 
further  that  some  day  the  clue  to  a  great  many  of 
Bach's  instrumental  works  maybe  found  in  the  identi- 
fication of  the  types  of  figure  which  are  always  related 
in  his  mind  to  particular  moods  and  phases  of  sentiment. 
The  only  movement  in  this  cantata  which  is  not  im- 
mediately associated  with  a  chorale  is  the  second,  which 
is  an  aria  for  tenor,  in  which  the  intention  is  interesting, 
and— as  is  so  often  the  case  in  Bach's  tenor  arias— the 
execution  approximately  impossible.    The  third  move- 


4o8  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

ment  for  soprano  solo  is  in  the  form  so  often  referred 
to,  of  the  combined  chorale  and  recitative,  the  respec- 
tive elements  being  almost  continuous — like  a  man 
enhancing  his  conversation  with  fragments  of  poetry. 
The  next  movement,  an  aria  for  bass,  is  much  the  same 
in  texture.  The  so-called  aria  (which  has  a  very 
vivacious  instrumental  accompaniment)  actually  be- 
gins with  a  phrase  of  the  chorale,  to  the  stern  words 
"Warum  willst  du  so  zornig  sein,"  and  the  voice  then 
proceeds  to  florid  passages,  only  alluding  once  again  to 
the  same  single  phrase.  But  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
aria  the  flute  takes  up  the  tune  and  plays  it  right 
through,  the  solo  voice  and  the  rest  of  the  accompanying 
instruments  continuing  on  their  independent  courses. 
The  words  explain  the  references,  ''Stelle  doch  die 
Strafen  ein,  und  trag'  aus  vaterlicher  Huld  mit  unserm 
schwachen  Fleisch  Geduld.''  The  next  number  con- 
tinues similar  considerations  in  the  form  of  the  chorale 
and  recitative  for  tenor  solo,  in  which  a  beautifully 
tender  rhythmic  accompaniment,  closely  related  to  the 
first  phrases  of  the  chorale  tune,  is  especially  attractive. 
Yet  another  form  is  presented  in  the  ''aria  duet" 
for  soprano  and  alto  which  follows.  It  is  actually 
described  as  *'Mit  Benutzung  der  Choral  Melodie." 
As  might  be  expected,  the  words  "Gedenk'  an  Jesu 
bittern  Tod"  inevitably  engendered  a  tender  mood 
in  the  composer.  The  movement  is  one  of  those  in 
which  Bach  expends  to  the  full  his  subtlety  in  enriching 
melodic  phrase  and  expressive  harmony  with  every 
kind  of  adornment,  in  the  ~  time  which  always  seems 
to  offer  him  such  full  scope.  The  chorale  tune  makes 
its  appearance  in  every  direction — wilh  flute  and  oboe 
da  caccia  in  the  introductory  part, — afterwards  each 


The  Latest  Cantatas 


409 


solo  voice  takes  its  phrases  in  turn  and  then  passes 
on  to  beautiful  interlacings  of  expressively  melodious 
passages,  which  hang  round  it  as  if  echoing  its  mood 
—often  with  phrases  which  are  no  more  than  ejacula- 
tions such  as  this  : 


auch  nur, 


4IO  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

while  the  accompaniment,  which,  unKke  the  first  chorus, 
presents  the  very  richest  features  of  instrumental 
style,  is  suffused  with  beautiful  fragments  of  expressive 
tune,  closely  knit  and  supremely  to  the  point.  How 
closely  knit  they  are  may  be  seen  from  the  fact  that 
the  ejaculatory  phrase  given  to  the  voice  as  above 
quoted  is  borrowed  from  the  first  phrase  of  instru- 
mental material : 


g:^=gr:grg£g£>:-:_:^«zp«zz^g^£:^^^ 


The  familiar  chorale  simply  harmonised  makes  the 
usual  conclusion  to  the  cantata. 

It  may  be  worth  pointing  out,  in  relation  to  the 
period  of  Bach's  life  when  they  were  written,  that  no 
less  than  four  of  these  cantatas,  Ich  hah  in  Goites  Her{ 
Mnd  Sinn,  Christus,  der  ist  mein  Lehen,  Mit  Fried' 
und  Freud',  and  Nimm  von  tins,  deal  with  the 
idea  of  death,  and  that  the  m.ost  beautiful  of  his  early 
cantatas,  Gottes  Zeit,  of  the  Weimar  time,  dealt  with 
the  same  subject,  with  the  same  vein  of  mysticism, 
tenderness,  and  deeply  religious  sincerity. 

Among  further  late  cantatas  in  which  the  inner 
movements  are  very  fully  identified  with  the  chorale 
is  Wo  Gott  der  Herr  nicht  hei  uns  halt.  In  this, 
the  second  number  is  a  combination  of  chorale  and 
recitative,  in  which  the  chorale  is  very  clearly  ditTeren- 
tiated  from  the  recitative,  as  nothing  less  than  a  whole 
phrase  is  given  at  a  time;  and  it  therefore  stands  out 
more  decisively  from  the  context  than  in  many  other 
examples.  Moreover,  this  prominence  is  accentuated 
by  a  device  suggested  by  the  procedure  of  the  choral- 


The  Latest  Cantatas  411 

vorspiel,  as  the  accompaniment  comprises  imitations 
of  each  phrase  in  shorter  notes.  The  fourth  number 
consists  of  the  chorale  sim.ply  sung  by  the  tenor  with 
an  accompaniment  closely  knit  of  characteristic 
figures.  The  fifth  number  is  an  example  of  the  chorale 
sung  by  the  choir  in  four  parts  with  recitatives  for  the 
voices  between  the  phrases,  and  a  very  striking  and 
suggestive  accompaniment  of  rhythmic  character 
which  knits  the  whole  into  unity.  So  there  are  only 
two  movements  out  of  seven  which  are  not  closely 
associated  with  the  chorale. 

It  is  to  be  observed  that  Bach  generally  treated  the 
chorale  tunes  with  great  respect,  as  a  species  of  sacred 
text.  Yet  there  are  a  few  cases  in  which  he  even 
modifies  the  actual  scale  or  mode  here  and  there  for 
purposes  of  expression.  One  of  the  finest  of  such 
modifications  is  the  end  of  the  first  chorus  in  the  cantata 
Mit  Fried'  und  Freud,  where  the  melody  is  made  to 
descend  to  the  tonic  near  the  close  by  a  semitone  (as 
in  the  third  mode)  instead  of  a  tone,  ministering  thereby 
to  the  deeply  pathetic  effect  of  the  passage  (see  p.  405). 
Such  procedure  is  not  altogether  uncommon.  Bach 
also  sometimes  ornaments  the  chorale  tune,  and  some- 
times he  completely  transforms  it;  making  a  kind  of 
"metamorphosis  of  theme''  to  convey  a  special  senti- 
ment. Of  this  kind  of  process  the  cantata  IVas  frag' 
ich  nach  der  Welt  supplies  an  exceptional  number  of 
illustrations.     The  tune  of  the  chorale  begins: 

Chorale. 


der      Welt. 

combined  recitative  and 


412  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

chorale  (which  appears  under  the  welcome  name  of 
arioso),  the  melody  appears  in  this  variation: 


Die    Welt    sucht    Ehr        und        Ruhm 

The  alto  aria  presents  a  much  more  complicated  trans- 
formation in  a  melisma: 


h^.?£:^r- 


Be  -  thor te  Welt. 

In  the  recitative  and  chorale  for  bass  the  tune  appears 
in  this  form.: 


cii: 


Adagio. 


mSEE 


Die    Welt   be  -  kiim 


mert     sich 


m 


iB: 


"I^l-^q^ 


=«=bt 


3=5 


-3#- 


and  in  the  soprano  solo  as  follows : 


^=^E 


^=:s: 


-«_p. 


Es      halt      es      mit      der    blin  -  den     Welt 

This  does  not,  indeed,  exhaust  the  varieties  of  form 
and  expression  which  Bach  makes  the  tune  assume, 
but  it  is  sufficient  to  represent  the  facts.  It  seems  as 
if  Bach  had  deliberately  adopted  these  devices  in  this 
cantata  to  give  it  special  character. 

The  cantata  Ach  liehen  Chrisien,  seid  getrosi  has  but 
one  inner  chorale  number,  Kein'  Frucht,  in  which  the 


The  Latest  Cantatas 


413 


chorale  is  sung  simply  by  the  soprano  solo  with  free 
accompaniment.  But  there  is  also  an  alto  solo,  Du 
machst,  0  Tod,  the  characteristic  passage  of  which  ap- 
pears to  have  close  connection  with  the  first  phrase  of 
the  chorale. 

In  Gelohet  seisi  du,  Jesu  Christ,  in  which  the  first 
chorus  is  in  the  form  of  a  chorale-fantasia,  the  second 
number  is  a  combination  of  chorale  and  recitative  for 
soprano  solo  in  which  the  recitative  is  in  each  case  an 
expansion  of  the  sentiment  conveyed  in  each  phrase 
of  the  chorale. 

In  the  cantata  Ach  Gott,  vom  Himmel  sieF  darein 
there  is  the  unusual  feature  of  a  passing  allusion  to 
a  single  phrase  of  the  chorale  in  the  recitative  which 
constitutes  the  second  movement.  An  example  of 
similar  fragmentary  use  of  a  phrase  from  the  chorale 
as  a  sort  of  suggestion  occurs  in  the  great  solo  cantata 
0  Ewigkeit  (p.  429),  and  also  in  Du  Friedejiirst,  Herr 
Jesus  Christ,  where  the  initial  phrase  is  twice  introduced 
into  the  accompaniment  of  an  ordinary  recitative, 
Gedenke  doch,  0  Jesu,  apparently  recalling  the  desig- 
nation of  "Friedefurst." 


The  Chorale  tune 


COKTI>,UO. 


414  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

This  cantata,  which  is  one  of  the  latest  Bach  wrote, 
has  reference,  hke  the  cantata  IVar  Goit  nicht  mit 
uns,  to  recent  wars  in  which  the  people  of  Saxony 
were  deeply  interested.  The  first  chorus  is  in  chorale- 
fantasia  form,  and  the  chorale  is  given  quite  simply 
at  first,  with  evident  intention  of  making  it  stand 
out  strongly  in  a  bold  and  simple  manner.  Later 
in  the  chorus  it  is  accompanied  by  splendid  elabora- 
tion of  polyphony  in  the  subordinate  voices. 

A  much  m.ore  subtle  use  of  fragmentary  and  quasi- 
allusive  reference  to  the  chorale  is  in  the  third  version 
of  the  cantata  Was  Goit  tlmt  (which  was  a  copious 
revision  of  an  earlier  work).  In  both  the  arias  for 
soprano  and  bass  in  that  work  the  first  phrase  of  the 
tune  is  a  variation  of  the  first  phrase  of  the  chorale, 
but  very  subtly  disguised.  The  final  Chorale  move- 
ment in  this  work  is  an  expansion  of  the  Chorale  move- 
ment in  Die  Elenden  sollen  essen  (see  p.  209). 

In  the  larger  of  the  two  cantatas  which  begin  with 
the  words  Ach  Goit,  wie  manches  Her^eleid,  the  second 
movement  is  a  com.bination  of  the  chorale  sung  by 
the  choir  with  recitatives  between  the  phrases.  The 
interest  is  enhanced  by  the  accompaniments  being 
founded  on  a  figure  derived  from  the  first  phrase  of 
the  chorale  in  quicker  notes,  suggesting  the  persistent 
undercurrent  of  the  idea  of  the  ''manches  Herzeleid." 

Chorale  Tune. 


Ach      Gott     wie    man  -  ches   Her  -  ze      leid. 
Instrumental  Episode. 


!fe 


The  Latest  Cantatas  415 

In  Herr  Jesu  Christ,  Du  hochstes  Gut  there  are 
several  inner  movements  which  are  connected  with 
the  chorale.  The  alto  sings  it  simply  with  flowing 
accompaniment  of  massed  strings;  the  bass  aria  sug- 
gests it  in  its  first  ornate  phrase,  and  the  same  voice 
has  also  a  movement  in  which  chorale  and  recitative 
are  combined. 

ErhaW  uns,  Herr  contains  a  duet  for  alto  and  tenor 
Der  Menschen  Gunst,  in  which  the  phrases  of  the 
chorale  are  alternated  with  recitative.  The  first 
chorus  is  in  chorale-fantasia  form,  and  contains  a 
quaint  example  of  Bach's  favourite  realistic  sugges- 
tions at  the  opening. 

In  Schmucke  dich,  0  liehe  Seele  there  is  an  arioso  for 
soprano,  Ach,  wie  hungert,  which  really  consists  of  a 
variation  of  the  chorale.  The  accompaniment  of  the 
first  chorus  subtly  conveys,  after  Bach's  favourite 
manner,  the  idea  of  graceful  adornment.  At  the 
beginning  of  it  there  is  one  of  the  rare  allusive  uses 
of  a  chorale  tune  by  the  flutes. 

Meine  Seele  erheht  denHerrn  (which  is  not  a  setting 
of  the  Magnificat,  but  of  a  hymn  by  Joseph  Klug) 
contains  a  duet  for  alto  and  tenor,  Er  denket  der 
Barmher{igkeit,  in  which  the  chorale  tune  is  introduced 
very  aptly  by  oboe  and  trumpet,  so  as  to  present  the 
scheme  of  a  chorale-fantasia;  in  which  guise  it  actually 
appears  in  the  "Sechs  Schiibler'schen  Chorale"  for 
organ.  (See  p.  504.)  The  first  chorus  is  also  a  chorale- 
fantasia,  and  has  rather  a  special  character  owing  to 
the  archaic  modal  nature  of  the  tune. 

In  Das  neugebor'ne  Kindelein,  a  cantata  written 
for  the  first  Sunday  after  Christmas,  there  is  something 
especially  attractive  in  the  cheerful  manner  in  which 


41 6  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

the  secondary  voices  echo  the  phrases  of  the  chorale 
in  the  first  chorus.  There  is  also  a  recitative  in  which 
the  three  flutes  harmoniously  play  the  chorale  high  in 
the  scale,  evidently  following  the  suggestion  of  the 
word  "Engel,"  and  also  a  trio  for  three  voices  in 
which  the  chorale  is  sung  by  the  alto  voice  and 
doubled  by  the  massed  strings. 

In  JVo  soil  ich  fliehen  hin  there  is  a  recitative  for 
alto,  Mein  ieruer  Heiland  trostet  mich,  in  which  the 
chorale  of  the  cantata  is  played  right  through  by 
the  oboe,  and  is  almost  exactly  conterminous  with  the 
recitative,  the  meaning  of  the  words  of  which  is  thereby 
emphasised  with  remarkable  effect.  This  cantata 
also  contains  a  tenor  aria  with  a  very  brilliant  accom- 
paniment for  viola  solo.  The  chorale  chorus  at  the 
beginning  is  notable  for  the  profusion  with  which 
the  phrases  of  the  chorale  are  introduced,  both  in  the 
instruments   and   the  secondary   voices. 

Hen  Jesii  Christ,  wahr'r  Mensch  und  Gott  is  full  of 
interesting  features.  At  the  opening  there  is  an  allu- 
sion to  an  extraneous  chorale  in  the  strings  while  the 
oboes  play  a  phrase  founded  on  the  chorale  of  the 
cantata.  The  first  line  of  the  chorale  being  made 
the  basis  of  the  parts  of  the  accompanying  voices,  seems 
to  emphasize  the  idea  conveyed  in  the  first  line  of  the 
hymn.  The  soprano  ariaDz^  Seele  ruht  is  character- 
ised by  a  striking  accompaniment  in  which  the  oboe 
plays  the  plaintive  melody  while  flutes  keep  up  a  cease- 
less reiteration  of  quavers.  The  clue  for  this  appears  to 
be  a  sentence  at  the  end,  "Ach,  ruft  mich  bald  ihr 
Sterbglocken,"  for  when  these  words  actually  occur  the 
suggestion  of  the  bells  is  emphasised  by  the  strings 
joining  in  the  accompaniment  with  pizzicato  chords. 


The  Latest  Cantatas  417 

The  same  device  is  employed  in  the  Weimar  cantata 
Konim  du  siisse  Todesshmde  and  in  the  Trauer  Ode. 
There  is  also  a  very  fme  bass  solo  with  trumpet,  Wenn 
einstens  die  Posaunen  schallen,  in  which  recitative  and 
aria  are  closely  and  effectively  intermingled.  It  con- 
tains some  subtle  allusions  to  the  chorale  of  the  cantata. 

Besides  these  later  cantatas  in  which  the  chorale  is 
so  variously  employed,  there  is  a  large  number  in 
which  the  emphasis  laid  upon  it  is  mainly  or  entirely 
confined  to  its  elaboration  in  the  first  chorus  and  the 
harmonised  version  at  the  end ;  of  which  the  following 
are  examples. 

Aus  tiefer  Noth  is  one  of  the  few  later  cantatas 
in  which  the  first  chorus  is  of  the  Pachelbel  choral- 
vorspiel  type  without  independent  orchestral  opening. 
The  correspondence  of  the  melodic  outline  of  the  first 
phrase  of  the  tenor  aria  Ich  lore  mitten  in  dem  Leiden 
with  the  beginning  of  the  chorale  is  likely  to  have 
been  an  unconscious  result  of  subjective  suggestion. 
Christum  wir  sollen  lohen  schon  also  begins  with  a 
chorus  in  choralevorspiel  form.  It  contains  a 
notably  tuneful  and  florid  aria  for  bass,  Johannis 
jreudenvoller  Springen. 

Mache  Dich,  meiii  Geist,  hereit  is  especially  notable 
for  one  of  the  most  exquisite  solos  in  all  the  cantatas, 
the  soprano  aria.  Bete,  heie !  It  is  accompanied  by 
a  flute,  violoncello  piccolo,  and  continuo,  intertwining 
divinely  tender  phrases,  which  plead  against  one  an- 
other as  if  from  the  innermost  depths  of  the  soul;  and 
into  their  company  the  solo  voice  seems  to  drop  from 
the  infinite  with  slow  phrases  expressing  with  the 
deepest  urgency  the  words,  "Bete,  bete!"  That  Bach 
should  have  called  such  a  movement  an  aria  shows  how 
27 


41 8  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

completely  the  form  had  by  this  late  period  become 
intrinsically  Teutonised. 

The  first  chorus  oiAch  wie  fliichtig  is  notable  for  the 
graphic  manner  in  which  Bach  superimposes  figures 
suggestive  of  the  word  "fliichtig"  in  the  accompaniment 
to  the  chorale.  It  also  contains  a  very  fine  bass  solo, 
An  irdische  Schdt{e  das  Her^e  ^u  hdngen. 

Herr  Gott,  Dich  lohen  alle  wir  was  written  for  the 
Feast  of  St.  Michael  and  is  a  wonderfully  vigorous 
work.  It  has  a  special  interest  for  English  Protestants, 
as  it  is  written  on  the  familiar  tune  known  to  them  as 
the  "Old  Hundredth,"  and  thereby  affords  them  an 
exceptional  opportunity  to  appreciate  the  form  of  the 
chorale-fantasia  as  superbly  presented  in  the  first 
chorus.  The  cantata  also  contains  a  most  engaging 
tenor  solo  in  gavotte  rhythm. 

IVohl  dem,  der  sich  auf  seinen  Gott  contains  among 
many  other  striking  features  a  bass  aria.  Das  Ungluck 
schldgt,  of  immense  proportions  and  of  peculiar  form, 
as  it  is  broken  up  into  alternating  sections  of  quick  and 
slow  time  and  changes  from  ^  to  ^.  It  also  has  a  most 
elaborate  accompaniment  for  oboe  d'amore  and  solo 
violin. 

Liehster  Jmmanuel  begins  with  a  fine  Chorale-fantasia 
Chorus  in  which  the  first  phrase  of  the  Chorale  is  very 
much  in  evidence  in  all  parts  of  the  accompaniment 
including  Viole  d'Amore.  In  the  tenor  Aria  there 
is  a  very  striking  and  characteristic  example  of  poi- 
gnant and  forcible  expression  to  the  words  "harte 
Kreuzesreise. " 

The  first  chorus  of  JVas  mein  Gott  will  is  notable  for 
the  fidelity  with  which  the  subordinate  voices  follow  the 
phrases  of  the  chorale  in  diminution  in  the  first  chorus, 


The  Latest  Cantatas  419 

and  the  same  is  the  case  with  Ach  Herr,  mich  armen 
Sunder,  in  which  the  chorale  Her{lich  thut  mich  verlan- 
gen  is  given  to  the  basses  and  the  intertwining  of  its 
phrases  in  shorter  notes  has  an  exquisitely  expressive 
effect. 

Es  ist  das  Heil  has  a  fine  chorale-fantasia  for  the 
initial  movement,  in  which  occurs  a  very  strange  pas- 
sage which  must  have  been  the  outcome  of  something 
which  Bach  had  in  his  mind,  but  which  it  is  difficult  to 
guess.  The  soprano  sings  the  long  notes  of  the  chorale 
phrase,  Der  hat  gnug  fur  uns  all'  geihan,  and  the  ac- 
companying voices  sing: 


der   hat   g'nug,  g'nug  fiir      uns,  g'nug  fiir       uns 

This  cantata  contains  a  duet  which  illustrates 
Bach's  extraordinary  facility  in  manipulating  canon. 
The  soprano  and  alto  solo  first  sing  a  charmingly 
fluent  canon  at  the  fifth  below,  and  then  reversing  the 
order  of  the  proceedings  sing  a  canon  at  the  fourth 
above,  and  the  flute  and  the  oboe  in  the  accompaniment 
also  have  a  canon  on  their  own  account  which  they 
also  reverse. 

IVie  schon  leuchtet  der  Morgensiern  has  an  initial 
chorale-fantasia  which  is  in  a  radiant  and  joyous 
vein  and  most  richly  and  copiously  developed.  Bach 
has  somehow  managed  to  convey  the  sense  of  the 
brightness  of  the  "  Morgenstern "  just  as  he  did  the 
sturdiness  of  the  "Feste  Burg"  by  the  general  mood 
of  the  music.  0  Jesu  Christ  consists  only  of  a  single 
movement  of  very  severe  and  simple  character  in 
chorale-fantasia  form, — a   striking   aspect    of   which 


420  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

is  the  unusual  constitution  of  the  band,  wliich  con- 
sists only  of  two  lituus  (a  kind  of  trumpet),  a  cometto, 
and  three  trombones.  The  effect  would  certainly  be 
very  interesting. 

In  Meinen  Jesum  lass  ich  nicht  the  treatment  of  the 
chorale  in  the  chorale-fantasia  is  similarly  simple, 
amounting  to  little  more  than  a  harmonisation  of  the 
tune  with  ornate  accompaniment  of  "oboe  d'amore 
concertante."  The  realistic  effect  of  a  reiterated- 
note  figure  in  the  tenor  solo  Und  wenn  der  harie 
Todesschlag  is  notably  characteristic. 

War  Gott  nicht  mit  uns  diese  Zeii  is  a  work  of 
remarkable  interest  and  beauty.  The  first  chorus 
forms  a  parallel  (with  a  vast  difference  of  mood)  to 
the  first  chorus  of  Ein  jeste  Burg,  since,  though  it 
is  in  chorale-prelude  form,  the  voices  never  actually 
sing  the  chorale,  which  is  reserved  for  the  horn  and 
oboe.i  The  voice  parts  are  extraordinarily  elaborate, 
and  the  skill  manifested  in  the  manipulation  of  the 
chromatic  subject  with  answers  by  inversion  is  as 
remarkable  as  the  complete  absence  of  any  obtrusive 
appearance  of  dexterity.  The  movement  is,  indeed,  a 
striking  example  of  the  extent  to  which  Bach  used 
the  utmost  dexterity  merely  as  means  to  an  end. 
According  to  Spitta  the  character  of  the  cantata  is  due 
to  the  impression  produced  in  Saxony  by  recent  ex- 
periences of  warfare  (see  p.  414).  As  is  often  the 
case,  the  solo  music  is  not  of  equal  interest  with  the 
first  chorus.  There  are  only  two  airs  and  they  are 
of  a  straightforward  and  practical  character,  the  first 

1  The  same  procedure  is  adopted  in  the  first  chorus  of  Ich 
elender  Mensch,  in  which  the  chorale  is  played  by  the  trumpet 
and  oboe  in  canon. 


The  Latest  Cantatas  421 

having  a  very  elaborate  accompaniment  for  horn  and 
strings. 

In  A uf  Christi  Himmeljahrt  allein  is  revealed  a  work 
of  superb  quaUty.  The  chorale-fantasia  chorus  at  the 
beginning  is  made  characteristic  by  important  horn 
parts,  and  it  is  happily  followed  by  some  fine  solo  move- 
ments, especially  one  of  Bach's  typical  bass  solos  with 
brilliant  trumpet  **obligato,"  the  interest  of  which  is 
enhanced  by  the  unusual  treatment  of  the  close,  where 
its  vigorous  animation  abruptly  merges  in  a  splendid 
elocutionary  recitative.  This  is  brought  within  the 
circuit  of  the  movement  by  repeating  the  introductory 
symphony  at  the  end.  The  procedure  is  a  reversal  of 
the  familiar  device  of  ending  a  recitative  with  an 
arioso.  The  basis  is  psychological,  the  change  in  the 
attitude  of  mind  suddenly  induced  being  a  source  of 
revived  attention. 

IVarum  betrubst  du  dich,  mein  Her{  illustrates 
another  phase  of  Bach's  experimental  energy.  The 
scheme  of  the  first  chorus  is  that  of  the  chorale-fantasia, 
but  so  sophisticated  that  it  might  easily  be  miscon- 
ceived. Each  phrase  of  the  chorale  is  anticipated  by 
a  long  passage  of  expressive  vocal  melody,  like  an 
arioso,  written  in  one  of  the  chorus  staves,  but  probably 
intended  for  a  solo  voice.  The  relative  proportions 
of  the  passages  are  very  irregular,  and  sometimes  even 
long  passages  of  recitative  are  introduced.  Moreover, 
when  the  chorale  has  been  completely  dealt  with  once 
through,  after  a  bass  recitative  the  same  process  is 
resumed,  though  not  so  whole-heartedly.  It  is  per- 
missible to  think  that  Bach  got  a  little  wearied  of  the 
scheme  in  which  he  had  entangled  himself  before  he 
got  quite  to  the  end  of  it,  and  had  not  time  to  recast 


42  2  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

the  whole  thing.  In  passing  it  is  to  be  observed  that 
the  bass  solo,  Auf  Gott  steht,  was  transferred  with 
modifications  of  detail  into  the  Mass  in  G  major. 

Bach's  fondness  for  trying  experiments  with  diverse 
well-known  forms  is  illustrated  in  some  of  these  later 
cantatas.  In  Christ  unset  Herr  :(um  Jordan  kam  he  pre- 
sents the  opening  chorale-fantasia  in  the  form  of  the  first 
movement  of  an  instrumental  concerto,  and  v/orks  the 
combination  through  with  astonishing  vigour  and  mas- 
tery of  every  requirement.  Yet  another  parallel  ex- 
periment is  shown  in  the  first  chorus  of  Jesu,  der  Du 
meine  Seele  which  is  presented  in  terms  of  a  solemn 
chaconne.  The  ground  bass  is  mainly  of  the  chromatic 
order,  descending  by  semitones  in  a  manner  to  which 
Bach  was  much  inclined,  the  most  impressive  example 
being  the  Crucifixus  in  the  B  minor  Mass.  In  passing 
it  may  be  observed  that  the  cantata  contains  a  very 
beautiful  example  of  the  expressive  order  of  arioso, 
and  a  fine  aria  for  bass,  Nun,  du  wirst  mein  Gewissen 
stillen, 

A  different  kind  of  experiment  is  manifested  in  In 
alien  meinen  Thaten,  where  Bach  compounds  the 
French  overture  form  with  a  chorale-fantasia  on  the 
tune  of  Nun  ruhen  alle  Wdlder. 

In  Gelobet  set  der  Herr  the  chorale-fantasia  chorus 
is  full  of  animation  and  vitality,  and  enjoys  the 
distinction  of  being  accompanied  by  an  exceptionally 
full  orchestra,  including  trumpets  and  drums.  The 
final  chorale  is  also  fully  accompanied. 

Herr  Christ  der  etn'ge  Gottes  Sohn,  probably  written 
in  1732,  begins  with  a  finely-wrought  but  rather  mon- 
otonous Chorale-Fantasia  and  contains  two  fine  Arias. 

Ich   ruj   {u  Dir  begins   with   a   beautiful    chorale- 


The  Latest  Cantatas  423 

fantasia  which  has  an  exceptionally  elaborate  accom- 
paniment, in  which  a  violino  concertante  plays  an 
interesting  and  conspicuous  part.  It  seems  to  be 
carried  out  with  even  unusual  concentration  of  mind, 
and  is  completed  by  a  long  coda  for  the  instruments. 

The  second  cantata  which  goes  by  the  name  of 
Nun  komm,  der  Heiden  Hetland,  was  written  some 
twenty  years  after  the  first,  and  it  is  not  so  interesting. 
It  is  well  to  observe,  moreover,  that  though  it  begins 
with  the  same  words,  the  rest  of  the  words  are  different. 
The  first  version  had  saliently  interesting  points  which 
have  been  discussed  (page  86).  The  present  version 
is  on  the  usual  lines  of  the  later  chorale  cantatas,  with 
chorale-fantasia  chorus  in  B  minor  and  recitatives  and 
arias  in  the  usual  order,  all  of  fine  quality  but  not 
demanding  detailed  consideration. 

Allein  {u  Dir  has  a  chorale-fantasia  chorus  of  the 
usual  type  at  the  beginning,  and  a  remarkable  aria, 
IVie  furchtsam  wankten  meine  Schritte,  for  alto,  with  an 
interesting  accompaniment  of  muted  first  violin  and  the 
rest  of  the  strings  pizzicati.  It  is  generally  of  a  purely 
normal  type.  In  the  chorale-fantasia  chorus  in  Sei  Loh 
und  Ehr  the  accompaniments  are  very  elaborate  and 
the  voice  parts  very  simple,  so  as  to  throw  the  fine  tune 
into  conspicuous  relief.  The  four-part  chorale  is  inserted 
in  the  body  of  the  work,  as  well  as  at  the  end.  The 
same  treatment  of  the  chorale  is  shown  in  the  first 
chorus  of  Ich  freue  mich  in  dir,  but  the  instrumental 
accompaniment  is  simpler.  The  soprano  aria  IVie 
lieblich  klingt  es  in  den  Ohren  is  interesting.  Bach 
seems  to  have  some  intention  in  relation  to  the  words 
of  producing  echo  effects,  the  same  phrase  being  fre- 
quently reiterated   first   "forte"   and   then   "piano." 


42  4  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

The  middle  section  of  the  aria  is  very  strongly 
contrasted   in   style. 

IVer  weiss  wie  nahe  mir  mein  Ende  has  an 
impressive  and  melancholy  chorale  -  fantasia  with 
recitatives  interspersed  between  the  phrases  of  the 
chorale  and  solo  violin  accompaniment — -a  very  strik- 
ing conception  superbly  carried  out.  There  is  an 
alto  aria  with  an  elaborate  organ  accompaniment,  and 
an  impressive  solo  for  bass,  Gute  Nacht  du  Welt- 
getilmmel,  in  which  the  tune  begins  very  peacefully, 
and  then  the  word  ''Getummel"  is  suggested  by  an 
agitated  accompaniment  of  strings  with  rapidly 
repeated  notes. 

As  has  been  shown,  the  majority  of  the  first  choruses 
in  these  chorale  cantatas  are  in  the  form  of  the  chorale- 
fantasia.  In  one  interesting  case,  Jesu  nun  set  ge- 
preiset,  Bach  combines  the  two  types  of  "Orgel- 
choral"  in  one  chorus.  It  begins  with  a  characteristic 
subject  for  trumpets  in  the  instrumental  introduction, 
and  proceeds  in  an  exultant  manner  with  the  chorale 
tune  in  the  treble  voices,  the  other  voices  singing  bril- 
liantly congenial  counterpoint.  After  the  whole  pro- 
cedure of  the  chorale-fantasia  has  been  gone  through, 
there  is  a  pause  in  the  animated  proceedings  and 
the  voices  sing  very  gently,  adagio,  the  words  **Dass 
wir  in  guter  Stille  das  alt'  Jahr  hab'n  erfullet" — as 
though  possessed  for  the  moment  with  a  sense  of  soul- 
subduing  solemnity,^and  then  at  once,  presto,  the 
voices  dash  into  a  movement  of  the  choralevorspiel 
type,  to  the  words  "Wir  wollen  uns  dir  ergeben  jetzund 
und  immerdar,"  and  when  that  is  completed,  the  style 
of  the  beginning  of  the  chorus  is  resumed  and  the 
first  two  phrases  of  the  chorale  are  yet  again  repeated 


The  Latest  Cantatas  425 

in  accordance  with  the  episodal  scheme.  The  treat- 
ment of  the  chorale  at  the  end  of  the  work  affords  a 
parallel:  for  the  chorale  is  sung  first  right  through  in 
four-time  with  an  instrumental  accompaniment  (which, 
be  it  noted,  brings  back  again  the  jubilant  phrase  of 
the  instrumental  introduction  to  the  first  chorus,  and 
thus  establishes  a  fine  unity  of  sentiment);  then 
it  is  resumed  in  2  time;  and  yet  again  after  that  its 
two  prominent  phrases  are  repeated  in  ~  time,  and 
the  orchestra  rounds  off  the  v/hole  with  the  actual 
phrase  with  which  the  work  began.  The  cantata  is 
referred  to  the  year  1735,  and  the  words  indicate  that 
the  date  must  have  been  just  at  the  end  of  it.  The 
exultant  phrase  which  is  repeated  over  and  over  again 
suggests  the  intention  to  inspire  a  strenuous  outlook 
towards  the  coming  year.  The  cantatas  IVas  willst 
du  dich  hetruben  and  Der  Herr  ist  mein  getreuer  Htrt, 
though  not  strictly  chorale  cantatas,  illustrate  the 
type;  as  the  first  chorus  in  each  of  them  is  in  the 
chorale  fantasia  form.  In  the  latter  case  the  ac- 
companiment comprises  extremely  elaborate  parts  for 
horns. 

There  are  many  other  features  besides  the  copious 
use  of  chorales  which  show  the  renewal  of  the  Teutonic 
impulse  in  Bach's  disposition  at  this  time.  Among 
them  may  be  mentioned  the  frequent  use  of  the  arioso 
form,  a  type  which,  as  has  been  said,  lies  between  the 
recitative  and  the  aria,  being  much  more  rich  in  musical 
effect  than  the  former  and  much  less  constrained  than 
the  latter;  prefiguring  the  latest  developments  of  purely 
Teutonic  type.  In  this  form  Bach  was  wont  to  express 
things  which  moved  him  very  deeply,  and  many  recita- 
tives culminate  in  passages  of  arioso.    There  is  a  beau- 


426  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

tiful  and  fully  developed  example  in  the  cantata, 
Schmiicke  dich,  0  liehe  Seele  (see  p.  41 5).  Another  feat- 
ure which  is  essentiallyTeutonic  is  the  use  of  melismatic 
passages  for  the  expression  of  deep  emotion  (see  p.  93). 
The  type  has  been  indicated  in  the  wonderful  close 
of  the  chorus  Es  ist  der  alte  Bund,  in  the  early 
Weimar  cantata  Gottes  Zeit,  and  the  well-known  passage 
in  which  Peter's  anguish  is  expressed  in  the  "Matthaus- 
Passion."  In  these  later  cantatas  they  are  of  frequent 
occurrence.  There  is,  as  has  been  mentioned  above,  a 
very  striking  example  on  the  first  syllable  of  the  word 
"Sterben"  at  the  end  of  the  choral  recitative  0  Wun- 
der  in  the  cantata  Mil  Fried  imd  Freud,  and  another 
occurs  on  the  first  syllable  of  "Jammerthal"  in  the 
bass  recitative  in  Gelohet  seist  Du,  Jesu  Christ.  Two 
notable  examples  occur  in  connection  with  the  words 
"  Weh'  der  Seele"  at  the  end  of  the  alto  aria  in  the  mag- 
nificent cantata  Herr,  deine  Augen  sehen  nach  dent 
Glauben,  which  is  referred   to  the  year   173 1. 

Frequent  reference  has  been  made  to  the  favour  with 
which  German  Protestant  composers  regarded  the 
form  known  as  the  "dialogus."  It  was  of  all  things 
an  essentially  Protestant  type,  since,  until  the  change 
of  mental  and  emotional  attitude  in  connection  with 
the  idea  of  the  beloved  Jesus,  referred  to  in  discussing 
the  "Matthaus-Passion,"  the  discourses  between  Jesus 
and  the  soul,  which  are  the  most  striking  of  these 
dialogues,  would  have  been  clearly  unimaginable. 
The  most  remarkable  of  these  works  is  the  complete 
cantata  in  dialogue  form,  0  Ewigkeit,  du  Donnerwort, 
above  referred  to,  which  belongs  to  the  latest  period  of 
Bach's  life.  Its  essentially  Protestant  and  Teutonic 
character  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  the  first  part 


The  Latest  Cantatas  427 

of  the  dialogue  turns  upon  a  chorale  tune.  It  is  from 
one  point  of  view  what  is  technically  called  a  solo  can- 
tata—though obviously  an  exceptional  one.  There 
are  three  solo  voices,  of  whom  the  alto  personifies 
"Fear,"  the  tenor  "Hope,"  and  the  bass,  is  speci- 
fied as  "Die  Stimme  des  heiligen  Geistes. "  In 
sober  earnest  the  dialogue  is  yet  another  example  of 
the  dialogue  between  God  and  the  soul,  examples  of 
which  were  written  by  German  composers  before  Bach 
was  born;  but  the  deep  interest  of  this  example  is  that 
the  soul  speaks  in  two  capacities,  like  (with  a  differ- 
ence) the  Florestan  and  Eusebius  of  Schumann.  Fear 
and  Hope  alternate  and  intermingle,  and  the  instru- 
ments keep  up  a  restless  motion  in  which  the  feelings 
associable  with  the  "Thunder-word  Eternity,"  such  as 
awe,  foreboding,  gloom,  tremulous  helplessness,  the 
sense  of  weakness  in  the  face  of  the  immeasurable 
power,  are  forcibly  expressed.  "  Fear,"  the  alto,  begins 
with  the  phrase  of  the  chorale  which  in  its  slow  and 
measured  motion  so  perfectly  represents  the  state  of 
the  human  creature  subdued  to  awe  by  the  conscious- 
ness of  the  immeasurable.  Bach's  true  perception  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  "Fear"  goes  on  discoursing 
for  some  time  before  the  other  phase  of  the  soul  pre- 
sents itself.  It  is  not  till  after  three  phrases  have 
been  sung  that  "  Hope,"  the  tenor,  begins  to  take  a 
diJerent  view  of  the  situation.  There  is  only  one 
sentence  allotted  to  this  personality,  "  Herr  ich  warte 
auf  dein  Heil,"  and  this  is  repeated  again  and  again, 
sometimes  simultaneously  with  the  measured  phrases 
of  the  chorale  and  sometimes  alone,  emphasising 
the  attitude  of  the  devout  Christian  in  relation  to 
Christ;  and  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  accents  have  a 


428  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

plaintive  tone,  a  touch  of  pathos  like  the  well-known 
picture  of  G.  F.  Watts.  It  is  indeed  the  single  string 
that  "  Hope,"  as  yet,  is  sounding  here,  and  no  better 
example  could  be  orTered  of  the  kind  of  repetition  of 
words  which  has  ample  justification.  And  it  is  to 
be  noted  finally  that  "Hope"  has  the  last  word,  for 
the  chorale  which  is  sung  by  "Fear"  dies  away  long 
before  the  final  accents  of  the  duet. 

The  second  movement  is  a  recitative  duet  in  which 
the  chorale  only  appears  in  a  very  suggestive  frag- 
ment, like  the  fragments  referred  to  in  the  tenor 
recitative  of  the  cantata  Du  Friedefursi  Herr  Jesu 
Christ  and  in  Ach  GoU,  vom  Himniel  sieh  darein  (p.  413). 
It  is  quite  clear  that  Bach  meant  to  connect  the  reci- 
tative here  with  the  chorale,  and  the  combination  of 
the  aesthetic  and  the  interpretative  elements  is  charm- 
ingly illustrative  of  his  disposition.  The  chorale 
begins: 


ig  - 


and  the  recitative  begins: 


^ — m — ft — ^ 

O     Schwerer  gang 

wherein  the  augmented  interval  naively  and  unmis- 
takably represents  the  "schwerer  Gang."  "Fear" 
talks  with  agitation  of  the  dread  of  death  and  "  Hope" 
calls  up  thoughts  of  comfort.  In  the  ensuing  move- 
ments—a fine  and  spaciously  developed  duet   and  a 


The  Latest  Cantatas  429 

recitative — "Fear"  continues  harping  on  the  awesome 
aspects,  and  ''Hope"  cHngs  to  comforting  reflections, 
and  finally  the  bass,  representing  the  Divine  voice, 
brings  the  answer  which  has  moved  so  many,  and  which 
mankind  especially  associate  with  such  divinely  en- 
dowed temperaments  as  Bach  and  Johannes  Brahms, 
*'Selig  sind  die  Todten  die  in  dem  Herren  sterben." 
It  is  a  very  interesting  illustration  of  Bach's  psycho- 
logical insight  that  there  is  quite  a  contest  between 
the  voice  of  *'Fear"  and  the  Divine  voice  for  some 
time.  *'Fear"  breaks  in  on  the  lovely  phrase  of  the 
Divine  voice  which  Bach-lovers  know  so  well: 


— [I— -I |g5 — ^— &: 


gg^=l 


Se      -         -         -         lig  sind  die  Tod  -  ten 

with  the  anxious  words  ''Ach!  aber  ach,  wie  viel  Ge- 
fahr  stellt  sich  der  Seele  dar,"  etc.  Finally  the  Divine 
voice  takes  possession  of  the  agitated  soul  and  com- 
pletes the  reassuring  sentiment  in  an  arioso.  "Fear" 
thenceforth  surrenders  in  a  short  recitative,  answering 
"Hope"  with  a  quaint  air  of  satisfied  complacency, 
and  the  whole  cantata  ends  with  the  chorale  Es  ist 
genug,  which  has  the  peculiarity — like  the  chorale  at 
the  end  of  the  motet  Der  Geist  hilft  miser  Schwachheit 
aus — of  being  broken  up  into  short  phrases,  producing 
a  strangely  reflective  emotional  effect. 

Bach's  justness  of  insight  in  departing  from  his  usual 
practice  of  ending  with  the  chorale  of  the  opening  is 
here  fortunately  manifested.  For  the  essential  idea 
of  the  cantata  is  the  removal  of  the  terror  inspired  by 
the  "Thunder- Word,   Eternity,"  by  the    promise  of 


430  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

the  Divine  word,  and  as  the  terror  is  intimately  asso- 
ciated with  the  chorale,  it  would  have  been  a  complete 
anticlimax  if  it  had  been  brought  back  at  the  end.  So 
in  this  case  the  use  of  a  diJerent  chorale  for  the  con- 
clusion is  more  than  amply  justified  and  explained. 

Another  dialogue  cantata  which  belongs  to  this 
period  is  a  setting  of  the  words  Ach  Gott,  wie  nianches 
Herieleid,  which  Bach  also  set  on  a  larger  scale  with 
chorus  (see  p.  414).  The  characters  or  personified  ab- 
stractions which  the  solo  voices  represent  are  not 
specified,  but  soprano  and  bass  carry  on  a  sort  of  con- 
troversy, the  clue  to  which  is  presented  in  the  first 
sentences  of  the  opening  duet.  The  soprano  begins 
with  the  words  "O  God,  how  great  my  heartfelt  pain! " 
and  the  bass,  breaking  in  before  the  sentence  is  finished, 
sings  "Only  patience,  patience,  my  heart!"  From 
which  it  is  clear  that  this  cantata  also  represents  a 
dialogue  between  two  aspects  of  the  same  person,  as 
in  the  0  Ewigkeit,  du  Donnerwort.  It  is  not  carried 
on  with  anything  approaching  the  dramatic  intensity 
of  that  work,  but  the  soprano  expresses  uneasiness  and 
the  bass  consolation  in  several  recitatives  and  arias, 
and  the  work  is  completed  by  a  second  duet.  The  so- 
prano sings  the  chorale  in  both  the  first  and  last 
duet. 

A  third  dialogue  is  Selig  ist  der  Mann,  which  is 
specified  as  being  between  Jesus  and  the  soul.  The 
treatment  is  again  much  more  lyrical  than  in  0 
Ewigkeit,  dii  Donnerwort.  There  is  very  little  im- 
mediate interchange  of  sentences  except  in  two  short 
recitatives,  and  the  various  sentiments  are  conveyed 
in  complete  arias  of  fine  quality,  and  in  the  chorale 
with  which  the  work  concludes.     The  character  of  the 


The  Latest  Cantatas  431 

work  suggests  that  it  was  not  originally  written  for  use 
in  a  church. 

Besides  these  dialogue  cantatas  Bach  wrote  a  con- 
siderable number  of  solo  cantatas  at  this  time.  Jauch- 
:(et  Gott,  a  brilliant  and  effective  cantata  for  solo 
soprano,  was  probably  written  for  his  wife,  Anna 
Magdalena.  It  contains  several  fine  arias,  and  one 
beautiful  movement  which,  though  described  as  a 
recitative,  is  more  of  the  nature  of  an  arioso.  In  the 
last  movement  but  one  the  solo  voice  sings  a  chorale, 
and  the  last  movement  is  an  Allelujah  in  a  vigorous 
fugal  style,  in  spite  of  its  being  for  a  single  voice.i  A 
point  which  illustrates  Bach's  habit  referred  to  above, 
of  using  types  of  figure  to  represent  phases  of  feeling, 
is  that  near  the  end  he  uses  the  same  type  of  figure  to 
express  the  exuberant  uplifting  of  feeling  which  he 
introduced  at  the  end  of  the  great  motet  "Singet  dem 
Herrn "  referred  to  on  page  299. 


Al- le-  lu  -  jah, Al-  le-  lu  -  jah, 

Another  delicate  and  beautiful  cantata  for  solo 
soprano,  which  was  probably  written  for  Anna 
Magdalena,  is  Ich  bin  vergniigt.  It  contains  two 
arias  and  two  recitatives  and  a  final  chorale  and 
is  marked  with  unusual  care  and  fulness,  bearing 
all  the  tokens  that  the  composition  was  a  labour  of 
love. 

1  The  most  complete  example  of  such  procedure  is  the  first 
movement  of  O  heiliges  Geist,  in  which  the  solo  soprano  has 
to  take  part  in  a  fugue  on  equal  terms  with  the  instruments. 


432 


Johann  Sebastian  Bach 


Among  several  solo  cantatas  for  alto  voice,  which 
were  probably  written  for  Bach's  daughter,  Vergnilgte 
Ruh  is  specially  notable  for  the  melodious  beauty  of 
the  arias,  and  for  the  exceptional  use  of  the  organ 
obligato,  especially  in  the  second  aria  IVie  jammern 
mich,  in  which  the  accompaniment  is  a  kind  of 
elaborate  trio,  with  higher  parts  for  organ  and  lowest 
for  violins  and  viola  massed  together. 

The  cantata  Widerstehe  doch  der  Siinde  is  another 
for  alto  voice,  and  begins  with  a  striking  discord  on  a 
pedal,  which  Bach  evidently  intended  to  express  the 
words; 

Strings. 


^ * 


V 


0.^.0 


■»m m^ ^-*H fc  H ;- 


W^ 


fez:f^^ifg=?^ 


-•-  -•- 


:t^=[=: 


and   the  melody  given   to  the  voice  starts  from   an 
analogous  chord: 

-b-  -V — \- 


0-    , 

Wi-  der-  ste 


-V 


'±^Slz 


fj 


=i=r 


:i(— il-— -r 


It  is  possible  that  the  short  cantata,  Schlage  doch 


The  Latest  Cantatas  433 

gemiinschte  Stunde  belongs  to  this  period.  It  is  for 
an  alto  voice  and  in  a  simply  melodious  and  expressive 
style.  It  illustrates  Bach's  disposition  for  realistic 
suggestion,  as  it  has  a  part  for  bells,  which  are  intro- 
duced to  suggest  the  striking  of  the  wished-for  hour. 

Bach  seems  to  have  delighted  in  writing  for  a  fine 
bass  soloist  in  his  choir,  and  there  are  many  can- 
tatas for  that  voice.  Among  them  is  a  very  long 
cantata  Ich  will  den  Kreu{stab  gerne  iragen,  which 
contains  many  fine  recitatives  and  arias,  concluding 
with  a  chorale;  which  Bach  himself  designated  as  a 
"Cantata  a  voce  sola  e  stromenti."  Another  cantata 
for  bass  voice,  of  great  beauty,  is  Ich  hahe  genug, 
consisting  only  of  recitatives  and  arias.  It  is  rendered 
especially  interesting  by  the  reappearance  in  the  middle 
of  the  exquisitely  tender  aria,  Schlummert  ein,  which 
had  made  its  appearance  twice  (but  both  times  incom- 
plete) in  Anna  Magdalena's  second  book  of  1725  (see 
p.  144). 

For  some  unexplained  reason  Bach  several  times  saw 
fit  to  begin  solo  cantatas  with  important  instrumental 
movements.  There  may  have  been  occasions  when  he 
resorted  to  such  a  procedure  to  make  up  for  the  absence 
of  the  usual  initial  chorus. 

The  cantata  Falsche  Welt,  dir  trau  ich  nicht,  for 
solo  soprano,  is  noticeable  for  the  extensive  sinfonia 
for  orchestra  with  which  it  commences,  which  is  none 
other  than  the  first  movem.ent  of  the  first  Brandenburg 
concerto.  It  contains  a  number  of  recitatives  and 
arias  laid  out  on  a  scheme  similar  to  the  Italian  solo 
cantatas,  and  ends  with  a  chorale. 

Geist  und  Seele  is  a  very  extensive  cantata  for 
alto  solo  in  which  there  are  two  instrumental  move- 
28 


434  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

ments  to  begin  the  two  parts,  which  were  probably 
transplanted  from  some  lost  orchestral  work. 

Gott  soil  allein  mein  Her^e  haben  is  also  an  extensive 
cantata  for  alto,  which  begins  with  a  sinfonia,  which  is 
the  same  as  the  first  movement  of  the  concerto  for 
clavier  in  E  major;  and  one  of  the  other  movements, 
Stirb  in  mir,  is  a  transformation  of  the  Siciliano  from 
the  same  concerto. 

The  cantata  Am  Abend  aber  desselbigen  Sabbaths, 
has  a  grand  sinfonia  in  D  for  strings,  oboes  and 
fagotto.  In  Ich  geh'  und  suche,  the  last  movement  of 
the  concerto  in  E  for  clavier  serves  as  an  introductory 
sinfonia.  Bach  entitles  the  latter  work  a  ''dialogue," 
and  though  there  are  no  further  indications,  it  appears 
to  be  intended  as  a  dialogue  between  Christ  and  the 
Church.  It  is  notable  that  there  is  no  chorale  at 
the  end  of  the  work  as  usual,  but  in  the  fmal  duet  the 
soprano  sings  the  chorale  while  the  bass  sings  Dich 
hab'  ich  je  und  je  geliebet.  The  cantata  is  notable 
also  on  account  of  the  extent  to  which  organ  obligato 
is  employed. 

Ich  Itebe  den  Hochsten  contains  a  conspicuous  ex- 
ample of  such  instrumental  introductions,  as  it  begins 
with  the  splendid  first  movement  of  the  third  Branden- 
burg concerto  in  G;  and  the  interest  is  enhanced  by  the 
fact  that  Bach  added  two  horns  and  two  oboes  and 
"taille"  to  the  score,  which  in  the  first  version  was 
written  only  for  strings.  The  rest  of  the  cantata  is 
overweighted  by  having  so  grand  a  movement  at  the 
beginning.  The  copious  employment  of  the  organ,  as  in 
the  above-mentioned  Ich  geh'  und  suche  and  Vergniigie 
Ruh,  is  a  feature  which  frequently  occurs  in  cantatas 
about  this  date,  as  Bach  seems  to  be  gladly  availing 


The  Latest  Cantatas  435 

himself  of  alterations  which  had  been  made  in  the 
organ  at  St.  Thomas's  Church  in  1730  or  so.  The 
most  conspicuous  instance  is  the  cantata  Ich  habe 
meine  Zuversicht,  which,  in  the  shape  in  which  it  is 
known  in  modern  times,  has  no  instrumental  intro- 
duction, but  is  proved  to  have  been  prefaced  on  its 
first  performance  in  1730  by  the  whole  of  the  clavier 
concerto  in  D  minor,  transferred  to  the  organ  to 
show  oiT  the  improvements.  Another  conspicuous 
example  of  the  use  of  the  organ  is  in  the  cantata  Wir 
miissen  dutch  viel  Trilbsal,  which  will  be  discussed 
later  (see  p.  446). 

Ich  steh'  mit  einem  Fuss  im  Grabe  also  has  an 
introductory  sinfonia,  though  not  of  such  spacious 
dimensions  as  those  above  mentioned.  It  is  really 
a  rhapsodical  melody  for  oboe  with  accompaniment 
of  strings.  In  the  first  aria  (which  is  a  duet  for 
soprano  and  tenor),  the  tenor  sings  the  above  words 
and  the  soprano  joins  in  with  the  chorale  Mach's  mit 
mir,  Gott,  nach  deiner  Giif .  The  relation  of  the  chorale 
to  the  sentiment  of  the  words  is  obvious,  and  the 
scheme  essentially  Teutonic. 

Es  reifet  euch  ein  schrecklich  Ende  is  a  remarkably 
forcible,  even  stern  Cantata  for  Solo  voices.  The 
Aria  for  Tenor  has  a  very  animated  voice  part  and  an 
accompaniment  which  matches  it  in  spirit.  The  other 
Aria  is  one  of  Bach's  typical  Solos  for  Bass  with  Trum- 
pet obligato,  which  is  of  the  most  brilliant  description. 
It  is  so  forcible  as  to  be  almost  menacing.  Was  soil 
ich  aus  dir  machen,  Ephraim  begins  with  a  very  im- 
pressive Bass  Solo  in  which  reproach  is  severely  ex- 
pressed. The  accompaniment  for  two  hautboys,  horn, 
and  strings  is  full  of  colour  and  character.    The  Tenor 


43^  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

Aria  in  the  middle  of  the  Cantata  is  not  so  spontaneous, 
but  the  final  short  Aria  for  Soprano  has  a  most  en- 
gaging tune. 

The  second  setting  of  Sie  werden  euch  in  den  Bann 
ihun  as  a  Solo  Cantata  should  be  mentioned  as  belong- 
ing to  this  period,  though  it  is  not  very  interesting. 

The  date  of  Sehet,  wir  gehn  is  not  certain,  but  it 
was  probably  written  after  the  "Matthaus-Passion." 
It  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  of  Bach's  solo  cantatas. 
The  first  movement  is  obviously  a  dialogue  between 
Jesus  and  the  soul.  The  bass  solo  utters  the  words, 
Sehet,  wir  gehn  hinauf  gen  Jerusalem,  and  the  contralto 
representing  the  soul  answers  in  loving  dissuasion,  saying 
"O  barter  Gang!  Dein  Kreuz  ist  dir  schon  zugericht't, 
wodudich  sollst  zu  Tode  bluten.'*  The  second  move- 
ment is  a  duet  aria,  in  which  the  soul  continues  its 
plaintive  burden,  and  the  soprano  sings  a  chorale,  Ich 
will  hier  bet  dir  stehen.  This  is  followed  by  a  recita- 
tive for  tenor,  and  a  beautiful  aria  for  bass,  Es  ist 
vollbracht,  with  accompaniment  of  plaintive  melodi- 
ous phrases  for  oboe,  the  strings  mainly  supplying  the 
harmonies.  The  style  suggests  that  the  cantata  was 
written  about  the  same  time  as  the  JVachet  auf. 

The  solo  cantata  Bisher  habt  ihr  nichts  geheten,  which 
has  some  beautiful  qualities,  was  probably  a  late 
revision  of  an  early  work. 

Er  rufet  seine  S chafe  mil  Namen  opens  rather 
exceptionally  with  a  short  recitative  for  tenor  accom.- 
panied  by  three  flutes  in  flowing  chord-passages  of 
semiquavers.  The  aria  which  follows  it  maintains  the 
character  so  produced,  as  the  flutes  continue  a  placid 
motion  in  triplets  almost  throughout.  The  effect  is 
charming  and  suggestive.     A  strong  contrast  is  pro- 


The  Latest  Cantatas  437 

duced  later  in  the  work  by  the  accompaniment  of  two 
trumpets  in  a  bass  solo,  Oeffnet  euch,  thr  heiden 
Ohren. 

Siehe,  ich  will  viel  Fischer  aussenden  is  a  charming 
solo  cantata,  in  which  some  characteristic  traits 
of  realistic  suggestion  are  manifested.  The  gentle 
accompaniment  of  the  first  part  of  the  first  solo 
was  evidently  the  result  of  Bach's  thinking  at  the 
moment  of  gentle  waves;  and  when  the  words  change  to 
a  reference  to  sending  also  '' Jager"  the  horns  are  intro- 
duced, with  happy  effect.  The  cantata  is  on  an  exten- 
sive scale  with  two  parts. 

In  Meine  Seuf{er,  the  first  tenor  aria  is  accompanied 
by  two  flutes  and  oboe  di  caccia  and  bass  in  a  manner 
often  referred  to  (as  in  the  Ascension  Oratorio  and  the 
cantata  Mache  dich,  mein  Geist,  bereit),  which  makes 
the  movement  an  elaborate  quintet  with  the  voice. 
In  another  solo,  for  alto,  Der  Gott,  der  mich  hat  ver- 
sprochen,  the  voice  sings  the  chorale  Freu  dich 
sehr  to  a   flowing  accompaniment   of   strings. 

Meine  Seele  riihmt  is  a  rather  uninteresting  Cantata 
for  Tenor  Solo,  which  shares  with  barely  a  score  of  all 
the  Cantatas  the  peculiarity  of  having  no  Chorale 
at  the  end. 

Liebster  Jesu  is  a  dialogue  between  Jesus  and  the 
soul  on  a  very  considerable  scale.  The  actual  dialogue 
is  less  closely  intermingled  than  usual,  as  the  utter- 
ances of  the  soprano  and  bass,  except  in  one  recitative, 
are  separated  in  complete  arias  and  recitatives  till  the 
last  of  the  solo  movements,  which  is  a  duet. 

Susser  Trost  is  a  short  solo  cantata  for  Christmas- 
tide,  which  is  chiefly  notable  for  the  use  of  a  favourite 
melodic  phrase  of  Bach's  which  may  be  taken  as  one 


438  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

of  his  type  formulas  (see  p.  429),  of  which  it  is  one  of 
the  most  beautiful: 


:•-#- 


-•—#---#    .    ^— #-^ 


V      1,       I.      g=H7- 


Siis       -       ser  Trost,    ..  .mein  Je  -  sus,  mein  Jesus  kommt 


In  /cZ?  bin  em  guter  Hirt  the  idea  of  the  shepherd 
is  consistently  emphasised  throughout.  The  first  aria, 
a  beautiful  movement,  is  for  bass,  and  seems  to  imply 
that  Bach  put  the  words  into  the  mouth  of  Christ. 
The  second  solo,  for  alto,  answers  ''Jesus  ist  ein  guter 
Hirt,"  the  soprano  solo  sings  the  words  '*Der  Herr  ist 
mein  getreuer  Hirt"  to  the  chorale  tune  of  Allein  Gott 
in  der  Hoh'  sei  Ehr  ,  in  the  form  of  a  chorale-fantasia; 
an  accompanied  recitative  for  tenor  refers  yet  again  to 
the  Shepherd  and  the  sheep,  and  the  remaining  solo 
discourses  on  the  words  "Seht,  was  die  Liebe  thut." 
The  fmal  four-part  chorale  has  the  words  "Ist  Gott 
mein  Schiitz  und  treuer  Hirt"  to  the  tune  of  Ist  Gott 
mein  Schild  und  Helfersmann. 

Though  the  conditions  are  not  so  favourable  in  solo 
cantatas  as  in  choral  cantatas  Bach  contrived  to  give 
chorales  a  prominent  position  in  many  of  them.  But 
in  some  cases  the  conditions  practically  excluded  them 
except  at  the  end,  and  this  was  also  the  case  in  a  few  of 
the  greater  cantatas  of  his  latest  period.  A  certain 
number  of  these  bear  traces  of  the  impulses  generated 
in  the  early  Leipzig  period  between  its  beginning  and 
the  time  of  the  "  Matthaus-Passion."  The  scheme  on 
which  they  are  planned,  and  even  the  attitude  of  mind 
in  which  they  are  dealt  with,  show  their  affinities;  but 
the  power  of  development  is  enhanced  and  in  not  a 


The  Latest  Cantatas  439 

few  cases  there  is  an  element  of  characteristic  poetry 
and  a  subtlety  of  insight  which  recalls  the  Teutonic 
aspects  of  the  chorale  cantatas.  An  early  example 
of  this  group  is  the  great  cantata  written  for  a  Raths- 
wahl  festival  in  173 1,  Wir  danken  dir,  GoU.  This 
belongs  to  a  special  class  in  which  Bach  was  invariably 
most  successful — the  expression  of  praise  and  ex- 
ultation. Perhaps  the  most  conspicuous  feature  is 
the  sinfonia,  on  a  very  large  scale  and  for  a  big  orchestra, 
which  makes  it  an  interesting  subject  for  contemplation ; 
— as  it  is  the  expansion  into  orchestral  terms  of  the  first 
movement  of  the  solo  sonata  for  violin  in  E  major, 
with  the  solo  violin  part  adapted  for  the  organ.  A 
more  comprehensive  expansion  could  not  well  be 
imagined!  The  first  chorus  comes  as  a  surprise,  for 
it  is  in  a  very  solemn  and  noble  vein,  being  no  other 
than  the  chorus  Gratias  agimus  in  the  B  minor 
Mass.  In  the  rest  of  the  cantata  the  jubilant  note  is 
persistent  with  the  exception  of  the  soprano  solo,  which 
supplies  a  soothing  contrast.  All  the  soloists  are 
engaged  in  singing  Hallelujahs,  and  even  the  final 
chorale  expresses  the  same  spirit. 

Erfreut  euch  thr  Her  {en  is  in  a  kindred  vein. 
The  first  chorus  is  extremely  brilliant  and  elaborate, 
in  aria  form,  with  a  strikingly  contrasted  middle  por- 
tion. The  characteristic  figure  given  to  the  word 
"Erfreut"  recalls  the  singular  figure  at  the  end  of  the 
great  motet  "Singet  dem  Herrn,"  in  connection  with 
which  it  was  commented  on  (p.  299).  The  cantata 
shows  the  Teutonic  impulse  in  a  dialogue  between  Fear 
and  Hope,  which  recalls  the  great  dialogue  cantata 
0  Ewigkeit,  du  Donnerwort. 

Ich  glaube  lieber  Herr  belongs  to  the  same  period, 


440  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

and  has  the  usual  elaborate  chorus  at  the  beginning. 
Its  Teutonic  stamp  is  shown  in  the  manifest  intention 
to  convey  the  sense  of  the  words,  for  there  is  undoubt- 
edly a  great  sense  of  effort  in  the  phrase  allotted  to 
the  word  "glaube."  The  cantata  is  notable  for  the 
exceptionally  elaborate  development  of  the  final 
chorale,  Durch  Adams  Fall.  It  must  be  admitted 
that  when  Bach  added  instrumental  parts  to  the  final 
chorale  he  frequently  seems,  for  some  reason,  to  have 
done  it  rather  indifferently.  In  this  case  the  instru- 
mental accompaniments  are  worked  out  with  the  ut- 
most care  and  full  concentration  of  mind,  and  a 
complete  and  beautiful  movement  is  the  result. 

To  the  same  order  of  cantatas  belong  Es  ist  dir 
^esagt,  and  Brich  dem  Hungrige^i  dein  Brod.  The 
former  has  a  chorus  in  a  massive  style  to  begin  the  first 
part,  and  a  characteristic  and  fine  bass  solo  to  begin 
the  second  part.  The  latter  has  a  fine  initial  chorus 
of  even  unusually  splendid  proportions.  After  the 
orchestral  introduction  (the  scoring  of  which  was  evi- 
dently suggested  to  Bach's  mind  by  the  idea  of  breaking 
bread)  the  voices  are  at  first  treated  in  an  elocutionary 
manner,  the  whole  phrase  being  quite  a  study  in  com- 
plex realistic  suggestion.  A  tremendous  fugal  episode 
ensues,  and  then  a  return  to  the  opening  passage,  mak- 
ing a  group  in  aria  form;  but  after  that  comes  a  sort 
of  coda  of  the  most  brilliant  description^a  fugue 
which  entirely  eclipses  the  first  part  of  the  movement 
in  power,  directness,  and  expression,  as  Bach  probably 
meant  it  to  do  in  consideration  of  the  words  "Als- 
dann  wird  dein  Licht  hervorbrcchen  wie  die  Morgen- 
rothe."  All  the  cantata  is  of  delightful  quality, 
comprising  a  charming  aria  for  a.ho,  Seinem  Schopfer, 


The  Latest  Cantatas  441 

a  rather  melancholy  bass  aria  IVohl-iu-ihiin,  and  a 
bright  aria  for  soprano  Hochsier  was  ich  babe. 

IVer  da  glaiibet  was  written  for  Ascension  Day 
and  is  of  imposing  proportions.  The  tirst  chorus  is  in 
a  very  solid  style,  more  like  the  old  conception  of 
choral  music  before  Bach's  time,  but  splendidly  elTec- 
tive.  The  manner  in  which  the  voices  are  introduced 
at  their  first  entry,  mounting  up  successively  from  the 
bottom  to  the  top,  is  extremely  impressive.  There  is 
a  grand  sense  of  firmness  and  strength  about  the  whole 
movement.  The  second  movement  emphasises  the 
word  "glauben"  again;  the  third  is  a  chorale  movement 
for  duet  of  soprano  and  alto,  in  which  the  voices  sing 
the  chorale  in  a  kind  of  free  canon  with  vigorous  figures 
of  accompaniment,  the  bass  solo  which  follows  again 
emphasises  the  word  "glauben"  and  the  final  chorale 
yet  again  refers  to  it.  So  the  whole  work  seems  suffused 
with  one  idea,  which  is  amply  enforced  by  the  music. 

Es  ist  cin  iroi^ig  und  ver^agt  Ding  has  an  un- 
usually concise  chorus  at  the  beginning,  which  gives 
the  sense  of  tremendous  concentration  of  energy.  A 
peculiarity  in  the  cantata  is  that  the  tune  of  the  chorale 
is  exceptionally  and  delightfully  obscure  in  tonality, 
and  Bach  seems  to  have  been  impelled  not  only  to 
harmonise  it  in  a  fashion  which  emphasises  the  ob- 
scurity, but  to  bring  the  solo  music  into  line  by  intro- 
ducing the  flat  seventh  of  the  key  into  the  first  phrases 
of  both  the  arias.  It  is  likely  that  he  intended  to 
convey  the  sense  of  the  words  ''trotzig  und  verzagt." 

One  of  the  very  finest  of  the  non-chorale  can- 
tatas written  after  1730  is  Herr  dcine  Aiigen  seben 
nacb  dem  Glauben.  The  words  in  this  case  are  partly 
from  Jeremiah  and  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  and 


442  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

partly  written  for  the  occasion,  which,  according  to 
Spitta,  was  probably  the  tenth  Sunday  after  Trinity, 
1 73 1,  and  therefore  early  in  the  period  under  considera- 
tion. The  great  feature  of  the  work  is  the  opening 
chorus  set  to  the  severe  words  from  Jeremiah,  v.,  3: 
"Lord,  do  not  Thine  eyes  look  upon  the  truth?  Thou 
hast  stricken  them,  but  they  were  not  grieved;  Thou 
hast  consumed  them,  but  they  have  refused  correction, 
they  have  made  their  faces  harder  than  a  rock."  Bach 
has  the  word  ''Glauben"  for  the  ''Truth"  in  the  first 
sentence  and  it  has  coloured  his  musical  interpretation 
of  ^he  words;  which  becomes  therefore  a  figurative 
exordium  on  the  actual  meaning  of  the  passage  in 
Jeremiah.  The  schem.e  is  peculiar.  The  orchestral 
introduction  serves  its  usual  purpose,  and  then  the 
voices  enter  (after  an  ejaculatory  "Herr"  and  a  short 
preliminary  anticipation  of  the  tune)  in  quite  a  cheerful 
though  chastened  spirit,  in  full  ornate  harmony,  with 
an  amiable  metric  and  Bachish  tune,  which  is  reiterated 
and  developed  for  a  time,  as  if  the  fact  stated  was  a 
very  pleasant  one  to  contemplate.  Then  comes  a  close 
and  the  aspect  of  things  changes;  "Thou  hast  smitten 
them"  becomes  the  subject  of  an  animated  fugue  in 
which  Bach  presents  one  of  the  frankest  of  his  specimens 
of  realistic  suggestion : 


-^^^-T^- 


r- ^- 


Du     schla gest  sie. 

wherein  the  short  staccato  notes  obviously  repre- 
sent the  blows;  and  the  realistic  effect  does  not 
stop  there,  for  the  orchestra  has  also  a  series  of 
fierce  blows  on  every  beat  of  the  bar  throughout  the 


The  Latest  Cantatas  443 

greater  part  of  this  portion  of  the  chorus.  But  in  time 
it  gives  way  to  yet  another  fugue  dealing  with  the 
words  "They  have  made  their  faces  harder  than  the 
rock,"  which  Bach  evidently  interprets  figuratively, 
and  then  gradually  interweaves  the  thoughts  of  the 
earlier  part  of  the  chorus  with  the  thematic  material 
of  this  section  and  so  completes  the  circuit  again 
with  the  words  "  Herr,  deine  Augen  sehen  nach  dem 
Glauben."!  The  usual  arrangement  of  recitatives 
and  arias  follows,  but  it  is  notable  that  the  so- 
called  arias  are  for  the  most  part  very  Teutonic 
in  intensity  of  feeling.  The  first,  IV eh!  der  Seele, 
is  peculiarly  rich  in  expressive  detail,  and,  as  has 
already  been  mentioned,  contains  some  wonderful 
examples  of  Bach's  unique  use  of  melismatic  devices 
for  the  purposes  of  expression.  The  bass  solo  is 
actually  described  as  an  "arioso"  and  is  rather  ex- 
ceptional in  that  class,  as  Bach's  ariosos  are  generally 
highly  subjective;  but  this  has  a  most  engaging  melodic 
formula: 

^  ^-  ^     „ 


2* 


Ver-acht-est  du   den  Reich-thum  Sei  -    ner      Gna-de. 

which  is  presented  in  all  manner  of  positions;  there- 
by anticipating  developments  of  solo  movements 
in  free  form  as  manifested  by  Schubert,  Brahms, 
Wagner  and  even  the  most  advanced  representa- 
tives of  modern  song.  This  cantata  is  divided  into 
two  portions.    The  second  begins  with  a  tenor  solo 

1  This  chorus  was  transferred  by  Bach  to  the  G  minor  Mass, 
in  which  it  forms  the  "  Kyrie." 


444  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

which  suggests  that  Bach's  mind  was  especially  sus- 
ceptible to  realistic  suggestion  at  the  time.  The 
examples  in  the  first  chorus  have  been  referred  to. 
"Langmlithigkeit"  is  illustrated  by  a  note  holding  on 
for  four  bars  in  the  bass  solo;  and  in  this  tenor  solo 
Bach  undoubtedly  arrives  at  one  of  the  most  uncom- 
promisingly uncomfortable  passages  which  he  ever  gave 
a  soloist  to  sing  in  order  to  give  the  impression  of  the 
word  "Erschrecke:" 


Er-schre      ......        eke   doch, 

Fortunately  it  is  prefaced  by  a  very  familiar  and 
melodious  passage  for  the  accompanying  instru- 
ments and  contains  features  of  strikingly  graphic 
expression  in  other  parts  of  the  solo.  The  balance 
is  set  even  by  a  beautiful  passage  of  recitative 
for  alto  in  the  meditative  vein  which  is  so  full 
of  fascination  in  Bach's  work,  the  accompaniment 
for  two  oboes  being  managed  as  in  the  parallel 
recitatives  in  the  "Matthaus-Passion."  The  whole 
cantata  is  rounded  off  by  the  singing  of  Vaier  unser. 
Of  absolutely  different  sentiment  is  the  beautiful 
cantata  BleiU  hei  uns,  which  was  probably  written 
a  few  years  later — ^perhaps  in  1736.  It  illustrates  a 
renewed  tendency  in  the  direction  of  the  communing 
with  the  great  mysteries,  which  has  also  been  indicated 
in  connection  with  the  chorale  cantatas.  The  words 
of  this  cantata  refer  to  the  meeting  of  the  two  forlorn 
disciples  with  their  risen  Lord  on  their  way  to  Emmaus, 
which  was  related  in  the  Gospel  of   that  day,   and 


The  Latest  Cantatas  445 

Bach  of  course  interprets  the  words  of  the  disciples, 
"  Abide  with  us,  for  it  is  towards  even,"  in  the  figurative 
sense  of  the  Christian  of  later  days  appealing  to  Jesus 
for  His  constant  presence.  It  is  in  Bach's  tenderest 
vein.  The  chorus  begins  with  a  tuneful  phrase  with 
four-part  harmony  which  might  almost  have  been 
written  by  Gluck  but  for  the  apt  manner  in  which 
Bach  prolongs  it  by  giving  to  the  various  voices  succes- 
sive imitations,  as  if  pleading  with  the  Lord,  "Denn  es 
will  Abend  werden."  The  central  part  of  the  chorus 
is  fugal — an  andante  in  Bach's  more  subjective  style — 
in  which  a  most  striking  effect  is  obtained  by  the  fre- 
quent reiteration  by  various  voices  of  the  insistent 


;^ 


2 — e——^ 


Bleib'     bei         uns 

emerging  from  the  fugal  tangle  of  the  other  voices. 

The  chorus  is  rounded  off  by  resuming  the  melodious 
and  almost  homophonic  portion  of  the  beginning,  thus 
making  a  decisive  form.  The  second  movement,  an 
aria  for  alto,  carries  on  the  figurative  appeal, 

"  Bleib',  ach  bleibe,  unser  Licht, 
Weil  die  Finsterniss  einbricht," 

with  a  remarkably  apt  melismatic  passage  on  the  first 
syllable  of  the  word  "  Finsterniss."  In  the  centre  of  the 
cantata  the  soprano  has  a  chorale,  Ach  bleib'  bei  uns, 
Hen  Jesu  Christ,  with  accompaniment  of  violoncello 
piccolo;  a  tender  tenor  solo,  Jesu  lass  uns  auf  dich 
sehen,  and  the  final  chorale,  Beweis  dein  Machi,  to  the 
tune  of  Erhalf  uns  Herr,  complete  the  cantata. 

In  several  of  these  later  non-chorale  cantatas,  medi- 


446  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

tative  impulses  seem  to  cause  them  to  begin  with 
sad  reflections  and  forethoughts,  which  are  gradu- 
ally converted  into  happier  moods.  Among  these  is 
a  comparatively  early  cantata  of  the  period,  Es  ist 
Nichts  gesimdes  an  meinem  Leihe.  The  first  chorus 
has  more  affinity  to  those  in  the  chorale  cantatas; 
for  it  is  a  kind  of  chorale-fantasia  in  which  the  voices 
take  the  place  usually  allotted  to  the  instruments  and 
the  wind  instruments  introduce  the  phrases  of  the 
chorale  Her^lich  thiit  mich  verlangen  at  intervals. 
The  chorale  obviously  stands  as  a  kind  of  comment  on 
the  melancholy  reflections,  which  the  quality  of  the 
music  associated  with  the  words,  and  the  figures  given 
to  the  strings,  so  clearly  express.  The  sentiment  of 
the  cantata,  after  a  plaintive  solo  for  bass,  Ach,  wo  hoV 
ich  Armer,  Raih,  becomes  m.ore  cheerful,  and  it  ends 
with  the  chorale  Freue  dich  sehr. 

Of  the  same  kind,  JVir  miissen  durch  viel  Triihsal  is 
a  very  noble  instance.  It  begins  with  the  first  move- 
ment of  the  finest  of  the  clavier  concertos,  that  in  D 
minor,  the  clavier  part  being  allotted  to  the  organ — to 
which  in  truth  it  is  not  very  well  adapted.  The  interest 
is  greatly  enhanced  in  this  case  by  the  remarkably 
expressive  chorus  which  Bach  has  contrived  by  adding 
independent  voice  parts  to  the  slow  movement  of  the 
same  concerto.  The  third  movement  of  the  concerto 
is  dispensed  with,  but  the  penultimate  movement 
before  the  chorale,  a  duet  for  tenor  and  bass,  Wie  will 
ich  mich  jreuen,  is  so  lively  that  it  might  well  have 
been  taken  from  a  similar  source.  It  is  to  be  noted 
that  the  cantata,  beginning  with  sadness  and  ending 
with  joy,  Bach  sees  fit  to  begin  in  D  minor  and  end  in 
F  major. 


The  Latest  Cantatas  447 

A  similar  scheme  is  presented  by  the  cantata  Ihr 
werdet  weinen  und  heulen,  which  belongs  to  the  same 
period.  The  first  chorus  begins  most  expressively  with 
rather  a  strange  adjunct  of  "flauto  piccolo  solo."  The 
interest  of  the  movement  is  enhanced  by  a  fme  inter- 
ruption in  the  shape  of  an  adagio  recitative,  Ihr  aher 
werdet  traurig  sein,  which  must  be  meant  for  a  solo 
bass,  though  not  so  specified,  and  the  chorus  is  resumed 
afterwards.  In  the  sadder  parts  of  the  cantata  there 
are  some  notable  examples  of  the  melismatic  device, 
especially  one  on  the  first  syllable  of  the  word  "schmer- 
zen"  in  a  tenor  recitative.  A  strong  contrast  is  pre- 
sented in  the  latter  part  of  the  cantata  by  a  brilliant 
tenor  solo  with  trumpet  obligato,  Erholet  euch,  betriibte 
Stimmen. 

Of  a  different  type  belonging  to  this  period  is  Es 
wartet  Alles  auf  dich,  which  has  a  brilliant  and  vigorous 
chorus  for  the  opening,  with  a  splendid  fugal  middle 
portion.  Bach's  susceptibility  to  verbal  impressions  is 
illustrated  by  the  manner  in  which  the  first  syllable  of 
the  word  "wartet"  is  always  delayed.  A  similar  feature 
may  be  noted  in  the  chorus  Alle  Augen  warien,  Herr, 
allmdchfger  Gott  aiif  dich  !  in  the  cantata  Du  wahrer 
Gott.  An  ornate  soprano  aria  with  oboe  solo,  Gott 
versorget,  is  an  interesting  and  abstruse  piece  of  ex- 
pression. Materials  in  this  cantata  were  used  in  com- 
piling the  Masses  in  G  and  G  minor;  as  for  instance 
the  above  mentioned  solo,  Gott  versorget,  which  serves 
as  the  Qui  tollis  in  the  latter.  Another  fine  cantata 
of  the  period,  IVer  Dank  opfert,  was  also  drawn  upon 
for  the  G  major  Mass,  the  first  chorus,  which  is  of  the 
normal  type,  being  converted  into  the  fugue  in  the  final 
cum  sancto  Spiriiu. 


44^  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 


Among  notable  late  cantatas  which  were  not  written 
to  the  words  of  hymns  is  Unser  Mund  set  voll  Lachens, 
a  work  of  pre-eminent  brilliancy  written  for  Christmas 
Day.  The  first  chorus  is  one  of  Bach's  most  surprising 
transformations,  as  it  is  no  less  than  the  first  movement 
of  one  of  the  D  major  orchestral  overtures,  with  voice 
parts  added.  It  is  in  the  French  overture  form,  and 
the  slow  portion  of  the  movement  is  given  to  the  or- 
chestra alone,  and  serves  as  introduction  and  is  re- 
peated as  the  close.  The  voice  parts  are  added  to  the 
central  fugal  portion — sometimes  merely  doubling 
the  instrumental  parts,  sometimes  presenting  new 
voice  parts.  In  this  latter  condition  occur  some  of  the 
most  remarkable  of  Bach's  realistic  effects,  as  for 
instance  in  the  tenor  part: 


hj^i-fl  ,^^,  '^  »-j- 

— l—J-iii — ^— =^- 

« 

— =i 1 

La    - 

— ^-S4!«^.'-^ 

— ^1 

-  R^"—  ^n~1^~=i~J~- — 

^~1     n     *1     f     1 

r-#— 

— ^ — =r~ 

^f:^^=i^~^=—l 

"     -^ — '- — 1 

chen. 

Among  the  solo  numbers  is  another  borrowed  move- 
ment, as  the  duet  Ehre,  Ehre,  sei  Goit  is  the  Virga  Jesse 
floruit,  which  was  inserted  in  the  Magnificat,  accord- 
ing to  Christmas  usage,  at  the  performance  in  1723 
(see  p.  224).  Most  of  the  rest  of  the  solos  are  of  a 
very  vivacious  description,  especially  the  bass  aria, 
"  Wach'  auf ."  The  cantata  concludes  with  the  chorale 
*'Wir  Christenleut." 

A   fine   cantata   in    exceptional   form   is   0    ewiges 
Feuer,   which    was    used    by    Bach    at   Whitsuntide, 


The  Latest  Cantatas  449 

probably  as  late  as  1740  or  174 1.  Its  principal  move- 
ments were  taken  from  a  wedding  cantata  of  which 
only  one  incomplete  set  of  parts  remains.  It  con- 
tains but  one  solo  movement  of  importance,  the  alto 
aria  IVohl  euch,  ihr  auserwdhlten  Seelen,  which, 
however,  is  a  movement  of  remarkable  beauty.  The 
melody  is  characteristic  of  Bach  in  his  tenderest  vein, 
and  is  most  happily  enhanced  by  an  accompaniment 
which  is  almost  modern  in  the  roundness  and  fulness 
of  its  tone.  Its  prominent  position  in  the  cantata 
helps  to  convey  a  special  colour  and  unity  to  the  whole. 
The  first  chorus  is  on  a  large  scale  and  in  aria  form. 
The  most  characteristic  feature  is  the  quasi-realistic 
figure  in  which  a  long  note  is  allotted  to  the  first  syllable 
of  the  word  "ewiges,"  which  suggests  the  meaning  by 
its  relation  to  the  rapid  polyphonic  passages  allotted 
to  the  other  voices.  The  cantata  has  no  chorale 
at  the  end,  but  there  is  a  free  and  energetic  chorus 
to  the  words  Friede  iiber  Israel  which  begins  with 
a  couple  of  bars  of  massive  harmony,  adagio,  that 
have  quite  a  Handelian  flavour.  Both  choruses  pre- 
sent rather  the  aspect  of  supreme  brilliancy  of  work- 
manship than  of  point. 

Another  cantata,  the  scheme  of  which  differs  slightly 
from  the  normal,  is  Es  ist  euch  gut,  dass  ich  hingehe. 
The  words  of  Christ,  allotted  as  usual  to  a  bass,  make 
in  this  case  the  starting-point  of  the  sentiment  of  the 
two  arias  for  tenor  and  alto,  and  of  a  noble  fugal  chorus, 
IVenn  aher  Jener,  der  Geist  der  Wahrheit  kommen  wird, 
which  occupies  the  centre  of  the  work. 

One  of  the  most  important  and  imposing  cantatas 
of  the  latest  period  is  Gott  jdhrel  auf  mil  Jauch^en. 
The  animation  of  the  first  chorus  is  almost  barbarous 
29 


45<^  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

in  the  vehemence  with  which  it  conveys  the  primitive 
idea  expressed  by  the  words — ^an  idea  at  once  musically 
picturesque  and  immense!  God's  going  up  seems  to 
send  all  the  elements  whirling  with  tremendous  con- 
volutions, while  from  the  midst  of  the  turmoil  the 
voices  shout  their  elation  in  this  headlong  fashion. 


'\            mm 

^ 

a     m     m    m 

m 

^  • 

\   J 

r      r       0           m 

P           m    P       »' 

/ 

(^ 

1      1      1      y   [^ 

L        •• 

r  f  r     r 

(( 

\  y  1        ^ 

i      1^          ■   : 

V*v 

) 

'      >^ 

L^             1 

t> 

Und  der  Herr  mit  heller  Po-sau 

1                      m     P 

^ 

"■ 

/              P     '     \ 

m       P  ^ 

^ 

4 

*      1        1 

m\}i,mf  m' 

r:^ 

-^•^r-^•"rr 

-m ^— H— 

x_^ — \ — L_^ 

^H+-l— ^U 

tj 

iZ — 1 1_^ — —^i'    ^^gj~~^^jj^ 

Eic. 

The  florid  passage  is  so  long  that  it  cannot  be  given 
complete  here;  and  it  is  a  very  quaint  illustration 
of  one  side  of  Bach's  character  that  he  extends  it  in 
another  place  to  such  proportions  that  the  Sopranos  are 
expected  to  sing  no  less  than  twelve  bars  on  a  single 
syllable!  Apart  from  such  slight  incidents,  the  chorus 
is  carried  out  with  certainty  of  control  in  the  manage- 
ment of  details,  and  especially  in  the  laying  out  of  the 
form,  in  such  a  way  as  to  get  stupendous  effects  of 
sustained  climaxes  in  which  passages  on  pedals  play 
very  imposing  parts.  The  cantata  is  indeed  full  of 
fme  movements.  There  is  a  tenor  solo  of  a  very  ani- 
mated description,  to  which  a  soprano  solo,  Mein 
Jesus  hat  nunmehr  das  Heiland-Werk  vollendet, 
offers  a  quiet  and  tender  contrast.  The  work  is 
divided  into  two  portions,  and  the  second  begins  with 
a  bass  recitative  of  tremendously  forcible  character, 
Es  kommt  der  Helden  Held,  and  an  aria  which 
matches  it  in  force,  Er  ist's,  der  gani  allem,  and  the 


The  Latest  Cantatas  451 

alto  soloist  is  also  called  into  requisition  for  a  flowing 
aria  with  accompaniment  of  two  oboes.  Both  bass 
and  alto  arias  have  passages  of  deeply  contrasted  ex- 
pression in  their  course,  and  the  alto  a  notable  emo- 
tional melismatic  passage.  The  whole  work  is  of 
that  essentially  strong  character  which  suggests  that 
Bach's  faculties  were  at  their  brightest. 

Yet  another  late  cantata  of  imposing  proportions 
is  Gott  ist  uns're  Zuversicht,  a  work  written  for 
some  important  wedding.  The  scheme  is  similar  to 
that  of  the  cantatas  of  the  earlier  Leipzig  period,  and 
two  solo  numbers,  0  du  angenehmes  Paar  and  Verg- 
nilgen  und  Lust,  are  borrowed,  at  least  as  far  as 
material  is  concerned,  from  a  Christmas  cantata  Ehre 
set  Gott.  The  first  chorus  is  in  aria  form  with  fugal 
treatment  in  the  first  portion,  and  contrasting  har- 
monic passages  in  the  middle.  There  is  a  fine  aria  for 
alto,  Schldjert  alter  Sorgen,  Kummer,  which  has  the 
first  and  last  portions  in  |  time  of  flowing  character, 
and  a  vivacious  central  portion  in  f  time.  The  can- 
tata is  divided  into  two  parts  with  a  different  chorale 
at  the  end  of  each. 

Among  the  very  latest  of  the  cantatas  is  Also  hat 
Goti  die  Welt  geliebt,  for  materials  for  which,  as  has 
been  before  said.  Bach  went  back  to  the  very  first  of 
his  secular  cantatas,  JVas  mir  behagt.  The  bass  solo 
is  only  subjected  to  slight  amendments,  but  the  soprano 
solo,  Mein  glduhiges  Her^e,  has  a  totally  new  melody 
given  to  the  accompaniments  of  the  original  song, 
JVeil  die  wollenreichen  Heerden,  and  it  has  become 
in  this  form  one  of  the  most  popular  of  Bach  arias 
(see  p-  331).  To  these  movements  Bach  has  added  a 
chorus  developed  on  the  lines  of  a  chorale-fantasia, 


452  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

and  a  vigorous  final  fugal  chorus.    The  cantata  has 
no  chorale  at  the  end. 

Reference  may  fitly  be  made  here  to  a  solitary  de- 
tached movement,  the  double  chorus  Nun  ist  das 
Heil.  It  presents  the  lineaments  of  a  cantata  chorus 
of  the  early  Leipzig  type,  though  there  are  none  of 
that  period  which  approach  it  in  grandeur  and  scope. 
Nothing  has  ever  been  discovered  about  the  purpose 
or  occasion  for  which  it  was  written,  and  it  is  useless 
to  attempt  to  decide  its  date.  All  that  can  be  said 
is  that  it  stands  there  four-square,  a  massive  achieve- 
ment, almost  unique  in  the  thoroughness  with  which 
it  represents  Bach's  personality  in  terms  of  exultant 
choral  music.  It  has  an  affinity  in  style  and  sentiment 
to  the  great  motet  Singet  dem  Herrn,  and  must 
certainly  have  been  written  at  a  time  when  Bach's 
faculties  were  in  their  fullest  vigour.  The  fugal  sub- 
ject illustrates  very  notably  one  of  Bach's  modes  of 
enforcing  the  meaning  of  the  words.  For  it  is  to  be 
observed  that  each  successive  emphatic  word  is  given 
a  higher  note  as  it  occurs  in  the  sentence: 


m=t=i 


— i r 

Nun  ist  das  Heil, und die  Kraft,und  das  Reich,unddie  Macht 

while  the  subordinate  words  remain  at  the  same  pitch, 
representing  in  musical  terms  an  elocutionary  crescendo. 
The  emphatic  crotchet  motion  is  thrown  into  relief  in 
the  development  of  the  movement  by  the  animated 
rhythmic  qualities  of  the  countersubject  and  the  poly- 
phonic passages  of  accompaniment  which  surround 
the  statement  of  the  principal  subject  with  a  dazzling 
network  of  multitudinous  melodies;  choir  answering 


The  Latest  Cantatas  453 

choir,  intermingling,  contending,  and  all  ministering 
to  the  overwhelming  presentation  of  the  spirit  of  the 
words. 

In  looking  back  over  the  wonderful  array  of  these 
cantatas  written  in  the  last  twenty  years  of  Bach's 
life,  the  impression  of  supreme  mastery  is  obtained. 
In  some  the  standard  of  elevation  induces  a  kind  of 
aloofness  from  mundane  emotions;  but  if  there  is  not 
so  much  of  romantic  quality  as  in  the  earliest  cantatas, 
the  renewal  of  pure  Teutonic  devotionalism  is  shown 
in  the  manifold  use  of  Chorales,  and  human  tender- 
ness, poetic  symbolism,  and  devotional  intensity  are 
manifested  in  the  highest  degree. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  CLAVIERUBUNG 

The  number  of  important  instrumental  works  which 
come  into  ken  for  the  first  time  in  the  last  few 
years  of  Bach's  life  suggests  the  inference  that  he 
pondered  long  and  patiently  over  his  works  when 
opportunity  served.  The  majority  of  his  large  choral 
works,  such  as  the  church  cantatas,  had  to  be  com- 
pleted for  special  occasions,  so  he  was  not  in  a  position 
to  lay  them  aside  for  further  consideration  and  revision. 
But  with  the  greater  quantity  of  his  instrumental  works 
he  was  not  tied  to  time,  and  when  pressed  by  his 
official  duties  or  hindered  by  an  unready  humour  he 
could  defer  the  final  touches  till  a  more  propitious 
season.  The  position  of  his  instrumental  compositions 
is  indeed  altogether  different  from  that  of  most  of  his 
choral  works,  for  there  was  no  claim  on  him  to  make 
them  public  property  at  all.  When  he  took  them  in 
hand  he  did  so  because  the  spirit  moved  him,  and  when 
he  offered  them  to  his  fellow  men  it  implied  that  he 
regarded  them  as  representing  his  highest  standard 
of  art,  and  his  ideal  of  what  such  instrumental  music 
ought  to  be.  And  indeed  the  instrumental  works 
which  are  first  heard  of  in  these  later  years,  such  as  the 
English  Suites,  the  Partitas,  the  second  series  of  twenty- 
four  Preludes  and  Fugues,  the  Chromatische  Fantasie, 

454 


The  Clavieriibung  455 

the  Goldberg  Variations,  the  "Ouverture  a  la  maniere 
franfaise,"  and  the  Italian  Concerto  complete  the  long 
and  splendid  list  of  his  clavier  works  in  a  manner 
which  may  well  be  called  triumphant.  For  each  in 
its  way  is  among  the  finest  examples  in  its  respective 
line  of  art. 

The  fact  that  these  works  and  several  others  less 
imposing  but  equally  characteristic  were  revealed  to 
the  world  so  late  in  his  life  is  no  proof  that  they  had 
not  been  written  a  long  time  before.  Indirect  evi- 
dence shows  that  many  of  the  preludes  and  fugues  of 
the  second  collection  of  twenty-four  had  been  in  exist- 
ence in  lees  complete  forms  long  before  he  brought 
them  into  it.  Of  the  Chromatische  Fantasie  and  Fugue 
there  is  no  kind  of  evidence  to  help  to  even  an  approxi- 
mate date;  but  their  intrinsic  qualities,  the  warmth  of 
imaginative  speculativeness  of  the  Fantasie,  and  the 
impetuous  vitality  of  the  Fugue  point  to  an  earlier 
phase  in  the  composer's  life.  Chronological  obscurities 
also  present  themselves  in  connection  with  the  Partitas. 
The  difficulty  of  identifying  the  periods  to  which  so 
many  great  works  belong  is  partly  the  result  of  the 
extraordinary  fact  that  Bach  never  printed  any 
instrumental  compositions  whatever  until  1726, 
when  he  was  forty -one  years  old.  Indeed,  but 
one  of  all  his  great  choral  works  had  been  printed 
previous  to  this  time;  which  was  the  fine  cantata 
written  in  1708  for  the  Rathswechsel  at  Miilhausen, 
when  it  was  probably  engraved  in  honour  of  the  occa- 
sion. As  far  as  his  works  were  disseminated  at  all 
previous  to  this  time  they  were  so  only  by  manu- 
script copies;  and  such  copies  do  not  fix  the  dates, 
because   Bach  rarely   inscribed   them   on   his  works. 


45^  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

When  at  last  he  began  printing  in  1726,  the  dates  at 
which  the  works  were  issued  at  least  decided  the  latest 
dates  which  were  possible  for  their  composition;  but, 
as  will  be  seen  in  most  cases,  it  left  the  limit  very  elastic 
in  the  other  direction. 

The  publication  consisted  of  a  variety  of  works 
which  were  issued  serially  under  the  general  inclusive 
name  of  'Xlavieriibung."  It  began  with  the  first 
of  the  Partitas  in  the  above  mentioned  year,  and  each 
year  another  Partita  was  added  up  to  the  year  173 1, 
when,  the  six  being  issued,  therewith  the  first  series 
of  "Clavieriibung"  was  regarded  as  complete.  Bach 
followed  this  up  by  publishing  in  1735  the  Italian 
Concerto  and  the  Partita  in  B  minor,  which  is  also 
known  as  the  "Ouverture  a  la  maniere  f  ran  false," 
as  another  instalment,  and  he  brought  out  a  collection 
of  organ  music  as  the  third  instalment  about  the  year 
1739;  and  the  series  was  concluded  with  the  fourth 
instalment,  which  consisted  of  the  Goldberg  Variations, 
published  in  1742. 

It  is  customary  to  regard  the  Partitas  as  the 
crown  of  Bach's  works  of  the  suite  type  and  his 
last  word  in  that  line,  and  it  is  urged  that  they 
represent  his  ideal  of  German  suites  as  distinguished 
from  the  suites  of  other  nations.  What  was  most 
probably  in  the  mind  of  the  inventor  of  this  theory 
was  that  there  were  French  suites  and  English  suites 
and  that  therefore  there  ought  to  be  German  suites; 
and  that  as  the  title  "Partien"  had  been  first  used  by 
Johann  Kuhnau,  Bach's  predecessor  at  St.  Thomas's 
School,  and  so  far  only  used  at  all  in  Germany,  Bach's 
adoption  of  the  title  implied  that  he  meant  to  identify 
them  as  German  suites. 


The  Clavierubung  457 

The  name  and  the  inclusive  title  of  Clavierubung, 
which  also  had  been  used  by  Kuhnau,  justify  the  in- 
ference that  Bach  was  thinking  of  his  predecessor's 
publication,  but  it  does  not  justify  the  other  inferences. 

The  intrinsic  qualities  of  the  Partitas  seem  to  suggest 
that  some  of  them  at  least  were  made  up  into  sets  in 
the  fmal  form  in  which  they  are  now  known,  out 
of  various  movements,  which,  like  so  many  others  of 
Bach's  works,  had  been  laid  aside  for  long  periods  of 
time.  A  feature  which  distinguishes  the  Partitas  from 
the  French  and  English  Suites  is  the  exceptional  irregu- 
larity and  diversity  of  the  component  movements. 
In  the  other  suites  he  is  most  conspicuously  loyal  to  the 
recognised  scheme  of  movements,  and,  indeed,  the 
consistency  of  his  practice  is  mainly  answerable  for  its 
being  accepted  as  the  most  artistically  satisfactory 
manner  of  grouping  them.  And  as  his  certainty  of 
infusing  artistic  interest  into  whatever  he  wrote,  when 
his  powers  matured,  precluded  the  uniformity  of 
grouping  being  any  drawback,  there  seems  very  little 
reason  for  his  setting  to  work  deliberately  to  write 
suites  in  speculative  groups  of  movements  so  late  in 
life.  Indeed,  it  presents  the  appearance  of  stultifying 
his  previous  loyal  adhesion  to  an  admirable  standard 
of  grouping.  But  in  these  Partitas  the  lack  of  system- 
atic uniformity  is  so  aggressively  in  evidence  that  it 
is  difficult  to  believe  that  they  were  deliberately  written 
to  present  a  new  type  of  the  art  form.  The  fact  that 
he  introduces  into  them  movements  which  had  not 
before  made  their  appearance  in  his  clavier  suites, 
such  as  a  Scherzo,  a  Burlesca,  a  Rondo,  a  Caprice,  and  a 
Fantasia,  is  not  the  only  thing  which  suggests  that  the 
Partitas  do  not  represent  his  last  word  on  the  form,  or 


45^  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

his  ideal  of  the  German  type  of  suite,  for  their  intrinsic 
quahties  suggest  the  same  inferences. 

One  very  prominent  feature  in  Bach's  constantly 
progressive  career  is  that  the  scale  and  scope  of  develop- 
ment of  individual  movements  expanded  so  enormously. 
This  is  illustrated  by  the  huge  dimensions  of  many  of 
the  first  choruses  of  the  later  cantatas  and  by  the  first 
movements  of  most  of  his  English  suites.  Moreover, 
as  his  years  multiplied  upon  him,  the  tendency  of  his 
style  was  to  become  more  and  more  serious  and  digni- 
fied. The  case  is  parallel  to  Beethoven's  last  period. 
It  is  not  that  either  of  them  grew  incapable  of  gaiety, 
fun,  merriment,  humour,  or  even  of  tender  sentiment. 
Their  range  was  in  no  wise  lessened,  but  whether  a  work 
was  in  a  serious  vein  or  in  a  light  and  merry  one,  the 
quality  of  the  music  conveys  the  feeling  that  it  is  the 
manifestation  of  a  great  temperament — the  utterance 
of  the  strong  and  serious  mind  now  at  last  provided 
with  the  full  measure  of  artistic  resources  wherewith 
to  express  itself.  The  personality  of  the  composer  in 
the  latest  phase  shines  out  more  completely  without 
any  obscuring  features  unconsciously  borrowed  from 
other  composers,  or  given  as  little  concessions  to  the 
unintelligent. 

But  the  Partitas  are  not  developed  on  a  grand  scale; 
whatever  average  tendency  is  shown  in  them  is  in  the 
direction  of  slightness  and  delicacy;  the  treatment  is 
that  of  a  great  master  dealing  with  small  types  of  art, 
and  fully  aware  of  the  kind  of  subject  and  the  kind  of 
work  in  detail  which  is  most  appropriate  to  small  works. 
The  very  first  Partita  (in  B  flat)  presents  a  number  of 
features  which  are  unfavourable  to  the  idea  of  late 
production.    The  Prelude  is  on  the  scale  of  a  miniature. 


The  Clavierubung  459 

It  is  exquisitely  finished  in  the  minutest  detail,  tender, 
sensitive,  and  intimate;  the  veriest  ideal  of  art  which 
may  be  lived  with  at  home  every  day.  The  Allemande 
follows  it  most  happily.  It  is  the  most  graceful  and 
fluent  of  all  Bach's  numerous  movements  of  the  kind, 
but  so  slight  as  to  have  an  almost  evanescent  delicacy, 
and  in  that  quality  showing  very  marked  contrast  to 
the  weighty  Allemandes  in  the  English  suites.  The 
Courante  is  angular  and  uneasy,  of  an  unusual  type 
for  Bach,  and  it  has  the  air  of  an  experiment,  around 
which  his  mind  was  feeling  and  knocking  without 
finding  the  way  in.  The  Sarabande  is  great  and 
weighty,  and  its  severity  is  rather  out  of  gear  with 
the  rest  of  the  movements.  The  Minuets  are  so 
dainty  and  slender  that  they  seem  gone  in  a  mo- 
ment; and  the  Gigue  points  a  very  emphatic  moral, 
for  it  is  unlike  any  other  gigue  ever  written  by 
Bach.  It  is  more  akin  in  its  humour  to  the  brilliant 
Gigue  in  the  French  Suite  in  G,  but  it  is  much  slighter. 
Its  character  is  indeed  ItaHan,  and  the  device  of 
crossing  hands,  which  gives  the  whole  movement  its 
cachet,  is  closely  akin  to  Domenico  Scarlatti;  but  it  is 
so  very  uncontrapuntal,  so  melodious,  and  so  genially 
unpretentious,  that  it  is  even  slender  by  the  side  of 
many  of  Scarlatti's  Sonatas.  So  the  theory  of  the 
Partitas  being  especially  Teutonic  does  not  seem  to 
gain  much  encouragement  from  the  qualities  of  the 
first. 

The  second,  in  C  minor,  is  weightier.  The  first 
movement  is  an  extensive  Sinfonia  with  massive  open- 
ing section,  a  melodious  and  ornate  andante,  and  a 
fugal  movement,  probably  meant  as  a  transfer  of  the 
Italian    "Sinfonia    avanti    Topera"    to    the    clavier. 


460  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

The  usual  Allemande,  Courante,  and  Sarabande  fol- 
low, but  the  group  ends  with  the  unusual  feature 
of  a  Rondeau  and  a  Caprice;  both  of  which  latter 
movements  are  delightfully  animated,  rhythmic,  and 
playful,  but  too  similar  to  one  another  to  come 
quite  satisfactorily  together,  and  not  ostensibly  adapted 
to  their  position  in  relation  to  the  previous  movements. 
The  third  Partita  (in  A  minor)  is  one  of  those  which 
had  appeared  a  few  years  before  in  Anna  Magdalena's 
second  book.  It  is  full  of  charm,  but  is,  with  the 
exception  of  the  Allemande,  rather  slight  and  delicate. 
The  two  movements  which  are  added  to  the  original 
scheme,  a  Burlesca  and  a  Scherzo,  are  both  of  a  type 
extraneous  to  the  usual  suite  scheme.  The  fourth 
Partita  (in  D)  supplies  further  strong  evidence  against 
the  sets  being  considered  especially  Teutonic,  as  the 
first  movement  is  called  an  Overture,  and  it  is  actually 
in  the  form  of  the  French  opera  overture,  for  which 
Bach  had  such  fondness.  This  Partita  must  be  ad- 
mitted to  be  on  a  grand  scale,  with  the  exception  of  the 
dainty  Aria  and  Minuet,  and  has  a  more  homogeneous 
appearance  than  most  of  the  sets.  The  fifth  has  the 
appearance  of  being  a  collection  of  movements  written 
at  various  times.  The  first  movement  is  called  a  "Pre- 
ambule,"  which  is  not  suggestive  of  Teutonic  intention. 
It  is  quite  unlike  any  other  preludes  to  suites,  being 
singularly  sprightly  and  fanciful.  The  Allemande  is 
strongly  contrasted  with  it,  as  it  is  on  a  grand  scale 
and  very  elaborate.  The  Courante,  again,  is  quite 
unlike  most  of  Bach's  other  courantes,  being  in  the 
Italian  form,  in  |  time,  and  very  swift  and  fluent. 
Similarly  the  Sarabande  is  much  slighter  and  less  full 
of  emotion  than  usual.     The  Minuet  is  an  ingenious 


The  Clavierlibung  461 

study  in  sparkling  rhythms,  and  is  evidently  an  experi- 
ment with  the  same  artistic  cue  as  the  Gigue  in  the 
Partita  in  B  flat,  with  the  enhancement  of  captivating 
cross  accents.  The  delightful  Passepied  is  dainty  and 
slender,  but  the  Gigue  is  strong  and  highly  organised 
in  Bach's  latest  manner. 

The  sixth  and  last  Partita  (in  E  minor)  is  one  of  the 
two  which  appeared  first  in  Anna  Magdalena's  book. 
The  movements  are  nearly  all  weighty  and  elaborate. 
The  fine  movement  with  which  it  opens  consists  of  an 
introduction  and  fugue,  and  is  here  called  Toccata, 
whereas  in  Anna  Magdalena's  book  it  had  been  called 
a  Prelude.  The  Allemande,  Sarabande,  and  Gigue,  are 
of  splendid  quality,  the  Courante  slender,  in  |  time, 
with  singular  alternations  of  angularity  and  fluency. 
The  Aria,  the  added  movement,  is  rather  slight.  Bach 
evidently  put  it  in  to  ease  the  work  of  its  excess  of 
severity,  and  possibly  to  counterbalance  the  effect 
produced  by  the  transformation  of  the  Gigue  from  the 
simpler  form  in  which  it  appeared  in  Anna  Magdalena's 
book,  to  the  rather  abstruse  form  here  adopted — 
which  is  food  for  highly  developed  wits  rather  than 
for  ordinary  humdrum  minds. 

The  general  impression  conveyed  is  that  the  sets 
were  furbished  very  delightfully,  with  movements 
conceived  at  different  times,  and  that  their  contents, 
so  far  from  being  demonstratively  Teutonic,  are, 
wherever  racial  leanings  are  apparent,  either  French 
or  Italian.  It  is  impossible  to  avoid  comparing  them 
with  the  so-called  English  Suites,  which  were  not  pub- 
lished in  the  composer's  lifetime.  If  they  had  been 
they  might  not  have  attracted  the  favour  which  was 
awarded  to  the  Partitas,  as  they  are  far  more  weighty, 


462  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

on  a  much  grander  scale,  and  at  once  more  homogeneous 
and  presenting  more  tokens  of  having  been  dehberately 
written  as  suites.  They  represent  the  difference  be- 
tween groups  of  movements  which  are  necessarily 
coherent — -products  of  the  same  mental  impulse — and 
groups  of  movements  which  are  merely  juxtaposed. 
Why  they  were  called  "English"  is  not  known. 
It  is  unlikely  that  Bach  knew,  any  better  than  his 
famous  biographer  did,  that  nearly  all  the  earlier  part 
of  the  development  of  the  form,  from  the  tentative 
experiments  of  the  time  of  Elizabeth  and  James  I.  up 
to  the  time  of  Purcell,  had  been  the  work  of  English 
composers.  Long  before  any  foreign  nations  had 
begun  to  think  of  music  for  the  domestic  keyed  instru- 
ment, there  was  a  colossal  accumulation  of  English 
music  of  the  very  highest  quality,  in  which  the  Suite 
form  gradually  took  shape;  and  the  evolution  of  the 
form  went  so  far,  before  English  composers  were  drawn 
from  their  mission  by  a  wave  of  unracial  levity,  that 
even  the  fmal  scheme,  afterwards  confirmed  by  Bach, 
presents  itself  in  a  large  number  of  cases.  Moreover 
Purcell's  suites  1  are  more  nearly  akin  to  those  of  J.  S. 
Bach  in  strength  and  vitality  of  thought  than  those 
of  any  other  composer,  Kuhnau  not  excepted.  It  is 
just  possible  that  Bach  had  come  across  them.  As 
has  been  frequently  said,  he  was  always  eager  to 
make  acquaintance  with  artistic  works  of  any  foreign 
nations  which  could  produce  them,  and  it  does  happen 
that  (in  view  of  the  quality  and  scheme  of  Purcell's 
Suites)  there  would  be  ample  justification  for  calling 
them  English  suites.  But  the  invincible  distaste  which 
Germans  have  for  genuinely  English  music  has  pre- 
1  See  Oxford  History  of  Music,  vol.  iii.,  p.  365,  Purcell 


The  Clavieriibung  463 

vented  anyone  from  taking  any  note  of  the  possibility 
of  Bach's  mind  being  more  cosmopolitan  than  their 
own;  hence  the  alternative  proposal,  obviously  purely 
gratuitous,  that  the  suites  were  written  for  an  English 
nobleman.  But  there  is  one  odd  little  bit  of  evidence 
which  may  be  worth  mentioning.  The  ultimate  source 
of  the  title  is  clearly  the  fact  that  a  manuscript  copy 
of  the  suites,  which  was  in  possession  of  Bach's  young- 
est son,  John  Christian,  is  said  to  have  had  the  words 
"fait  pour  les  Anglais"  written  on  the  first  page  of 
the  first  suite  in  A  major.  And  the  strange  fact  is 
that  the  little  Prelude  of  that  suite  is  an  expansion  of 
a  Gigue  in  a  suite  by  Dieupart,  who  was  a  popular 
teacher  and  composer  in  England  and  a  little  senior 
to  J.  S.  Bach;  and  it  is  almost  certain  that  Bach  made 
acquaintance  with  the  movement  of  which  he  made 
such  use  in  an  edition  printed  in  England. 

It  is  very  improbable  that  the  note  referred  either  to 
an  English  gentleman  (since  the  reference  is  in  the 
plural)  or  to  the  English  public.  It  is  far  more  probable 
that  the  words  *'fait  pour  les  Anglais"  were  written 
over  the  said  first  movement  solely  with  reference  to  the 
movement  of  Dieupart's  of  which  Bach  had  here  made 
use;  and  that  people  who  were  not  aware  of  the  connec- 
tion of  Bach's  Prelude  with  Dieupart's  movement,  which 
was  .written  for  the  English,  construed  the  remark 
erroneously  as  referring  to  the  whole  series  of  Suites; 
no  doubt  excusing  their  translation  of  the  word  "fait" 
from  singular  to  plural  on  the  ground  that  Bach's 
French  was  generally  very  slipshod. 

The  mysterious  title  seems  to  have  hindered  the 
acceptance  of  the  view  that  the  English  suites  are 
really  Bach's  last  word  in  that  form  and  the  essential 


4^4  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

demonstration  of  the  Teutonic  ideal;  but,  if  their  in- 
trinsic quahties  are  looked  to,  there  can  hardly  be  any 
question  about  the  matter.  They  come  into  view 
only  in  the  latter  part  of  Bach's  life,  and  they  might 
have  been  written  any  time  between  the  latter  end  of 
the  Cothen  period  and  a  long  way  on  in  the  Leipzig 
period.  They  certainly  represent  his  highest  pitch  of 
mastery.  The  immense  scope  of  all  the  preludes 
(except  the  first  in  A  major,  founded  on  Dieupart's 
gigue)  and  the  wide  range  of  resource  which  they  dis- 
play, the  weight,  variety,  and  unvarying  high  level  of 
material  of  the  allemandes  and  courantes,  the  supreme 
dignity,  pathos,  and  warmth  of  colour  and  expression 
of  the  sarabandes,  the  sparkling  vivacity  of  the  bour- 
rees  and  the  gavottes,  and  the  superb  texture  of  the 
gigues  combine  to  make  this  series  of  suites  stand 
entirely  alone  as  representing  the  very  highest  examples 
of  the  type  in  existence.  The  two  last  French  suites 
have  a  special  charm  and  lightness,  and  admirable  con- 
sistency of  style;  but  the  whole  series  does  not  give 
the  impression  of  uniform  high  quality,  certainty  of 
resource,  and  nobility  of  expression  which  is  given 
by  the  so-called  "  English  Suites." 

The  actual  title  of  the  second  instalment  of  the 
Clavieriibung,  which  came  out  in  1735,  throws  much 
light  on  the  works  contained  in  it.  It  runs  as  follows: 
'*  Zweyter  Theil  der  Clavier  Uhung,  hestehend  in  einem 
Concerto  nach  Italicenischen  Gusto,  und  einer  Overture 
nach  Frani'osischer  Art,  vor  ein  Clavicymbel  mit  ^weyen 
Manualen,"  etc.  The  works  are  comm.only  known  as 
the  "Italian  Concerto,"  and  the  Partita  in  B  minor 
or  ''Ouverture  a  la  maniere  fran^aise."  But  the  terms 
of  the  title  referring  to  form  and  style  and  the  informa- 


The  Clavieriibung  465 

tion  which  it  suppHes  as  to  both  works  having  been 
written  for  a  harpsichord  with  two  rows  of  keys  arc 
of  much  service  in  helping  to  the  full  understanding 
of  Bach's  purpose.  The  Concerto  is  the  only  work  of 
the  kind  which  Bach  wrote  for  the  clavier  alone,  and  is 
obviously  an  experiment,  like  many  another,  in  transfer- 
rence  of  an  orchestral  form  to  a  solo  instrument.  Some 
account  has  already  been  given  of  the  characteristics  of 
the  early  type  of  concerto  in  connection  with  the  Bran- 
denburg Concertos  (see  p.  120);  and  it  was  pointed  out 
that  the  salient  feature  of  such  works  was  the  alterna- 
tion of  passages  for  solo  instruments  and  passages  for 
the  mass  of  the  tutti.  It  is  likely  that  the  foremost 
incitement  to  the  experiment  may  have  been  the  earlier 
arrangements  of  the  Vivaldi  concertos  for  clavier;  but 
it  is  also  likely  that  one  of  the  incitements  was  the 
opportunity  which  a  harpsichord  with  two  keyboards 
afTorded  to  represent  the  alternation  of  soli  and  tutti. 
Bach  indicates  this  intention  by  the  use  of  the  words 
"forte"  and  "piano,"  which  are  proved  to  refer  to  the 
respective  keyboards,  because  one  hand  is  sometimes 
marked  "forte"  when  the  other  is  marked  "piano," 
and  that  would  be  impracticable  on  the  harpsichord 
except  by  the  use  of  different  keyboards. 

Bach  is,  as  usual,  very  unsystematic  in  his  use  of  the 
words:  he  leaves  them  out  when  they  would  be  obvious, 
as  at  the  beginning  of  the  first  movement,  which  clearly 
represents  a  tutti  passage,  but  he  puts  them  in  suffi- 
ciently often  to  show  what  he  means;  and  in  the  quick 
movements  it  is  obvious  that  "forte"  generally  indi- 
cates a  keyboard  which  represents  tutti  and  "piano"  a 
keyboard  which  represents  soli.  At  the  same  time 
he  by  no  means  restricts  himself  to  such  mechanical 


466  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

consistency,  but  frequently  puts  "forte"  to  a  melodic 
passage  which  he  wishes  to  stand  out  strongly;  as  for 
instance,  in  the  melodious  passage  for  the  right  hand 
which  follows  the  tutti  passage  at  the  beginning  of  the 
first  movement  in  the  thirtieth  bar.  Such  strengthen- 
ing of  the  melody  is  particularly  notable  in  the  beautiful 
slow  movement;  in  which  the  right  hand  is  marked 
"forte"  and  the  left  hand  "piano."  In  this  case  the 
directions  clearly  refer  to  the  difference  of  the  tone 
quality  of  the  two  keyboards,  as  the  character  of  the 
movement  would  not  justify  the  extreme  of  difference 
in  amount  of  tone  which  would  be  suggested  by  the 
usual  meaning  of  the  words.  This  movement  is 
one  of  those  outpourings  of  free  rhapsodical  melody 
which  Bach  alone  could  carry  out  on  such  a  grand 
scale  and  yet  give  the  impression  of  perfect  artistic 
organisation.  The  type  is  the  rhapsodical  melody 
for  violin  which  was  occasionally  attempted  by 
Italian  violin  composers.  The  immediate  forerunner 
may  indeed  have  been  a  beautiful  slow  movement 
in  a  concerto  in  D  by  Vivaldi  which  stands  third 
in  those  arranged  by  Bach.  Bach's  enhancement 
of  Vivaldi's  scheme  lies  not  only  in  the  much  m.ore 
spacious  and  emotional  melody,  but  also  in  the  treat- 
ment of  the  accompaniment.  Vivaldi's  accompaniment 
is  nothing  more  than  the  repeated-note  formula,  which 
is  one  of  the  most  elementary  and  lifeless  forms  of 
figuration.  Bach  makes  the  whole  accompaniment 
consistent  and  full  of  vitality  by  basing  it  upon  a  short 
figure,  which  continues  to  be  reiterated  with  constant 
variation  throughout  the  whole  movement,  and  supplies 
a  principle  of  unity  which  allows  the  quasi  violin  solo 
in  the  right  hand  to  soar  into  a  greater  freedom  of  range. 


The  Clavieriibimg  467 

The  type  is  a  favourite  with  Bach,  and  presents  itself 
in  the  ariosos  and  accompanied  recitatives  in  choral 
works  as  well  as  in  the  preludes  for  clavier.  In  this  case 
the  consistency  of  the  tender  phrase  is  singularly  apt 
to  the  expression  of  the  melody,  and  the  movement  is 
one  of  Bach's  most  remarkable  and  personal  outpour- 
ings, suggesting  a  strange  sense  of  mystery— of  groping 
after  some  indefinite  object  of  desire,  of  longing  and 
questioning,  of  the  sadness  which  dimly  tinges  the 
vague  sense  of  inevitable  abnegation. 

Such  a  movement  seems  rather  strangely  mated 
with  the  quick  movements  which  stand  on  either  side 
of  it.  They  indeed  are  most  vivacious,  merry,  bustling, 
even  manifesting  a  sense  of  fun  here  and  there.  It  is 
hardly  possible  Bach  thought  of  them  as  in  any  way 
spiritually  connected  with  the  slow  movement.  The 
likeliest  interpretation  seems  to  be  that  in  these  he 
was  thinking  of  the  imitation  of  the  movements  in  an 
orchestral  concerto,  with  their  contrasts  of  tutti  and 
soli,  and  in  carrying  them  out  he  was  content  to  be 
gay,  and  indeed  is  so  most  successfully;  but  that  in  the 
slow  movement  he  was  carried  away  by  the  aptness  of 
the  form  to  his  musical  disposition  and  the  expression 
of  his  deepest  feelings. 

The  Partita  which  kept  the  Italian  Concerto  company 
in  this  number  of  the  Clavieriibung  is  a  parallel  experi- 
ment in  another  line.  In  so  far  as  it  is  defined  as  a 
Partita,  it  supplies  a  further  argument  to  those  adduced 
above,  in  connection  with  the  six  Partitas,  that  there 
was  no  intention  to  make  these  works  representatively 
Teutonic,  since  this  work  is  manifestly  a  transfer  to 
the  keyed  instrument  of  the  French  overture  which 
Bach  had  illustrated  in  his  orchestral  overtures.     The 


468  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

first  movement  is  on  a  very  large  scale  and  has  a  much 
longer  fugue-subject  than  was  usual  in  the  French 
overtures  of  the  Lulli  type.  Here,  again,  the  two 
keyboards  of  the  harpsichord  come  in  serviceably  to 
represent  the  soli  and  tuiti  of  the  orchestra.  As  the 
usual  slow  movement  at  the  beginning  obviously  repre- 
sents the  full  opening  by  the  orchestra,  Bach  gives  no 
indication,  since  it  would  all  be  obviously  "forte,"  but 
in  the  Fugue  the  two  keyboards  are  frequently  indi- 
cated. There  is  no  Allemande,  but  the  second  move- 
ment is  a  Courante  of  the  French  type;  and  nearly  all 
the  rest  of  the  movements  are  in  a  lighter  vein,  de- 
lightfully frank,  engaging,  and  direct.  Two  lovely 
Gavottes — the  second  of  which  sounds  as  if  it  might 
have  been  written  for  the  lute, — two  charming  and  con- 
cise Passepieds,  a  dignified  and  noble  Sarabande,  two 
lively  Bourrees,  an  unprententious  Gigue,  and  a  dainty 
Echo  complete  the  series.  The  indications  for  the  two 
keyboards  only  appear  in  the  second  Gavotte  and  the 
second  Bourree,  which  are  marked  ''piano,"  and  in  the 
Echo.  In  the  latter  the  influence  of  the  two  keyboards 
in  determining  the  character  is  evident,  for  there  can 
hardly  be  a  doubt  that  Bach  wrote  the  movement  and 
put  it  in  its  conspicuous  position  on  purpose  to  show 
off  the  echo  effects  producible  by  them.  The  alterna- 
tions of  "forte"  and  "piano"  are  indeed  very  close, 
representing  the  frequent  answers  of  the  echoes.  But 
one  of  the  most  quaint  and  charming  fancies  in  the 
presentment  of  the  device  is  that  the  echo  is  often 
more  ornate  than  the  initiative  passages,  and  some- 
times even  at  a  dilTerent  pitch.  It  may  be  recalled 
that  echo  movements  were  very  popular  before 
Bach's  time  in  many  branches  of  art — Lasso  having 


The  Clavierlibung  469 

written  some  very  ingenious  examples  for  voices  in 
many  parts,  and  Sweelinck  and  others  having  written 
them  for  the  organ,— but  it  is  improbable  that  any 
composers  thought  of  anything  so  subtly  artistic  as 
making  the  echo  a  variation  of  the  passage  it  answered. 
The  third  instalment  of  the  Clavieriibung  cofP" 
sisted  of  compositions  for  the  organ,  and  was  en- 
graved by  1739.  Bach  seems  to  have  had  a  definite 
scheme  in  his  mind  in  making  the  collection,  for  it 
begins  with  a  Prelude  in  E  flat  of  very  spacious  dimen- 
sions, such  as  would  be  apt  to  serve  as  the  exordium  to 
some  important  pronouncements;  and  the  series  ends 
with  the  Fugue  (also  in  E  flat),  which  is  probably  the 
most  widely  appreciated  of  all  Bach's  organ  fugues, 
and  is  known  in  England  as  the  "St.  Anne  fugue,"  from 
the  similarity  of  the  subject  to  a  well-known  hymn 
tune  of  that  name.  Between  these  two  great  works 
lies  a  series  of  twenty-one  movements  founded  upon 
or  associated  with  chorales.  (The  four  Duetti  can  be 
left  out  of  consideration.)  One  can  hardly  suppose 
that  Bach  (in  spite  of  the  indiiference  which  his  in- 
discriminate use  of  the  words  da  capo  shows  with 
regard  to  the  lapse  of  time)  intended  the  whole  series 
to  be  played  at  a  sitting.  Moreover,  if  he  had  so 
intended  he  would  not  have  ended  the  penultimate 
number,  the  Fugue  on  "Jesus  Christus  unser  Heiland," 
on  the  chord  of  F.  But  still  it  is  eminently  charac- 
teristic of  him  to  have  given  a  general  sense  of  unity 
to  the  whole  series  by  the  suggestion  of  a  connection 
between  the  first  movement  and  the  last;  which,  indeed, 
has  confirmed  itself  in  the  course  of  time  to  the  extent 
of  inducing  men  to  believe  that  the  first  movement 
is  meant  as  a  Prelude  to  the  last  though  separated 


470  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

from  it  by  twenty-one  movements  and  the  irrele- 
vant Duets.  The  Prelude  is  indeed  massive  and 
dignified,  but  unusually  harmonic  and  melodious 
in  style,  and  the  details  of  the  texture  are  by  no 
means  so  characteristic  as  is  usual  in  Bach's  organ 
works.  It  was  certainly  written  under  Italian  influ- 
ences, and  contains  many  traces  of  the  Italian  con- 
certo type  in  passages  which  suggest  alternations  of 
iutti  and  soli.  The  Fugue  is  certainly  one  of  the  most 
perfect  and  finished  of  Bach's  works  of  the  kind.  It 
has  the  peculiarity  of  being  in  three  definite  portions — 
all  centralising  on  the  same  subject,  though  presenting 
different  treatment  of  it,  and  at  the  same  time  mani- 
festing a  gradual  growth  of  complexity  and  vivacity 
up  to  the  majestic  and  imposing  close. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  there  is  a  Fugue  in  E 
minor  written  before  Bach's  time  on  similar  lines, 
which  is  in  three  divisions  and  presents  many  of  the 
same  traits— even  of  texture.  It  has  been  commonly 
attributed  to  Frescobaldi,  but  does  not  appear  in  any 
of  the  collections  published  in  his  lifetime,  and  its  style 
makes  it  almiost  inconceivable  that  it  could  have  been 
written  by  him.  It  may  possibly  be  by  Muff  at. 
Whether  Bach  was  indebted  to  this  work  for  the  sug- 
gestion, or  whether  it  was  merely  a  coincidence,  the 
fact  is  so  remarkable  that  it  could  not  pass  unnoticed. 
Bach  himself  experimented  in  this  threefold  kind  of 
fugue  several  times;  one  of  his  very  finest  fugues  for 
the  clavier,  that  in  A  minor  beginning  as  follows 


= — '^~r — =*---=— J 


The  Clavierlibung  471 


with  a  Fantasia  preceding  it,  is  in  three  distinct  por- 
tions, but  with  different  employment  of  the  subjects 
and  accessories.  In  that  case  the  middle  portion  intro- 
duces a  totally  new  and  highly  contrasted  subject, 
which  is  worked  out  fully  in  that  section;  and  in  the 
third  section  the  principal  subject  of  all  resumes  its 
majestic  prerogatives,  and  the  subject  of  the  second  por- 
tion is  interwoven  with  it.  The  scheme  is  at  once 
simple,  conclusive,  and  essentially  musical,  and,  it  is  to  be 
noted,  very  well  adapted  to  the  qualities  of  the  clavier. 
The  methods  of  the  E  flat  Fugue  are  especially 
adapted  for  the  organ,  beginning  with  the  solemn  dig- 
nity of  the  slow -moving  style,  without  ornament, 
which  is  associated  with  all  the  deep  sentiment  of 
the  old  religious  choral  music.  The  fulness  of  tone 
produced  by  the  five-part  counterpoint  is  most  appro- 
priate to  the  opening  section.  After  it  follows  the 
second  portion,  which  is  much  more  animated.  It 
is  practically  a  new  three-part  Fugue  woven  round 
the  original  subject,  after  the  same  manner  as  parts 
were  woven  round  the  chorale  in  the  Choral vorspiel. 
The  good,  simple,  and  obvious  device  of  refraining  from 
the  use  of  the  pedals  throughout  this  portion  makes 
the  volume  of  tone  when  the  pedals  reappear  in  the 
last  portion  extraordinarily  impressive.  The  last  por- 
tion is,  moreover,  another  fugue  on  yet  a  further  subject 
in  ^  time,  the  character  of  which  lends  itself  to  the 
increase  of  complexity  of  texture  which  is  needed  to 
maintain  the  sense  of  cumulative  interest  up  to  the 


472  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

end;  and  the  subject  of  the  first  portion  is  duly  rein- 
troduced in  co:r:bination  with  it,  slowly  rolling  out  its 
solemn  and  iiTiperturbable  phrase  amid  all  the  vivacious 
interchange  of  figure  and  rhythm  which  is  being  carried 
on  by  the  other  parts. 

The  Chorale  movements  that  intervene  between  the 
Prelude  and  Fugue  represent  various  types  of  treat- 
ment of  such  tunes  and  Canti  fermi.  The  earlier 
numbers  are  in  the  severe  if  simple  vocal  counter- 
point of  the  order  of  the  Choralvorspiel.  The  two 
movements  on  "Aus  tiefer  Noth"  are  the  only  ones 
which  represent  completely  what  has  been  called  the 
Pachelbel  type,  in  which  the  respective  phrases  of  the 
chorale  are  anticipated  by  the  secondary  voices  in 
imitation  before  the  chorale  makes  its  entry  in  long 
notes.  The  first,  in  six  parts,  is,  like  the  earliest  num- 
bers, in  the  severe  contrapuntal  style,  and  presents  the 
rare  feature  of  having  the  pedals  written  in  two  parts, 
the  upper  one  of  which  has  the  chorale  melody.  In 
several  of  the  movements  the  chorale  is  treated  after 
the  manner  of  the  chorale-fantasia  above  described 
(p.  182),  which  is  so  often  met  with  in  the  first  chorus  of 
the  chorale  cantatas,  in  which  the  whole  movement 
is  woven  of  interesting  independent  figures,  with  the 
chorale  in  long  notes  slowly  taking  its  solemn  way 
among  them;  as  in  "Christ  miser  Herr  {um  Jordan 
kam,"  No.  I,  "Vater  imser,"  No.  i,  and  " Allein 
Gott  in  der  Hoh',"  Nos.  i  and  2,  and  "Dies  sind 
die  Heiligen  {ehn  Gebof."  In  the  last  Bach  indulges 
in  a  canon,  as  in  the  first  "Vater  unser";  the  chorale 
being  given  in  two  inner  parts  generally  answering 
one  another  at  a  couple  of  bars  apart.  Yet  again  the 
chorale  answers  itself  in  different  parts  by  inversion,  as 


The  Clavierlibung 


473 


in  the  second  movement  on  "Christ  unser  Herr."  In 
some  the  chorale  tunes  are  subjected  to  very  elaborate 
variation  in  detail,  which  to  one  unfamiliar  with  them 
would  make  them  almost  unrecognisable;  and  they 
are  sometimes  used  in  such  forms  as  subjects  for  fugues, 
or  free  fugal  movements  with  characteristic  independent 
pedal  parts.  Of  this  kind  is  one  of  the  best  known  in 
the  collection — the  Choralvorspiel  fugue  in  D  minor 
on  "  IVir  glauben  all'  an  einem  Gott,"  in  which  the  subject 
of  the  fugue  follows  the  outline  of  the  chorale  melody, 
and  the  pedals  answer  in  a  delightfully  frank  passage 
striding  up  through  an  octave  and  down  again,  in 
sequences  which  have  gained  the  movement  the  popular 
title  of  the  "Giant's  Fugue." 

The  most  highly  ornamental  example  is  that  on  the 
well-known  tune  yater  unser;  and  as  that  is  one  of 
the  most  salient  instances  of  the  type,  the  subject 
founded  on  the  chorale  tune  with  which  the  movement 
begins  may  be  taken  as  an  illustration. 


The  actual  chorale  in  this  case  is  given  by  the  treble  and 


474  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

tenor  parts  in  canon,  in  unadorned  simplicity,  and  the 
movement  being  in  five  parts  presents  the  appearance 
of  wonderfully  intricate  and  interesting  texture.  The 
second  movement  on  Vater  unser  is  perhaps  offered 
as  a  compensation  for  having  disguised  the  tune  so 
effectually  in  the  first  movement  on  the  sam.e  tune,  as 
it  merely  presents  the  simple  mielody  in  the  treble 
with  the  other  parts  flowing  smoothly  below  it.  So  it 
is  what  would  be  technically  defined  as  an  Orgelchoral. 
The  inventiveness  of  interesting  principles  of  treatment 
is  mated  with  such  incredible  facility  that  the  ingenui- 
ties never  betray  themselves  unduly,  but  only  miinister 
to  the  purely  musical  and  even  expressive  effect. 
They  show  how  deeply  the  love  of  the  chorales  was 
engrained  in  Bach's  disposition  and  how  he  delighted 
in  giving  to  them  the  tribute  of  his  supreme  mastery 
in  every  kind  of  artistic  adornment.  And  even  beyond 
all  this  supreme  exercise  of  his  skill  there  was  a  further 
devotional  purpose  as  there  was  in  the  "Orgel-Buch- 
lein,"  for,  as  is  indicated  on  the  title-page,  the  chorales 
are  all  united  by  the  fact  that  they  belonged  to  the 
series  which  was  recognised  in  the  Lutheran  Church  as 
Catechismal  hymns.  Spitta  even  goes  so  far  as  to 
suggest  that  Bach's  intention,  in  giving  three  versions 
of  the  chorale  " Allein  Gott  in  der  Hoh'  sei  Ehr,"  was 
to  symbolise  the  Trinity.  It  is  not  at  all  improbable, 
for  undoubtedly  it  is  difficult  to  exhaust  the  range  and 
subtlety  of  intention  which  Bach  manifests  in  every 
aspect  of  his  creative  work. 

The  fourth  and  ffnal  instalment  of  the  Clavieriibung 
consisted  solely  of  the  work  known  as  the  ''Goldberg 
Variations,"  so  called  from  Johann  Theophilus  Gold- 
berg, a  pupil  of  Bach's,  who  is  said  to  have  been  a 


The  Clavieriibung  475 

remarkably  fine  clavier  player,  and  for  whom  they 
were  written.  Bach  must  have  had  a  very  high  opinion 
of  his  abilities,  as  the  "Variations"  comprise  a  variety 
of  difficulties  for  the  performer  both  in  the  matter  of 
execution  and  of  interpretation  such  as  are  not  to  be 
found  in  any  other  of  his  works;  and  it  is  in  every 
way  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  and  interesting 
works  he  ever  produced.  It  has  been  hindered  from 
being  generally  known  through  being  written  for  a 
harpsichord  with  two  keyboards;  since  the  devices  of 
technique  invented  by  Bach  to  utilise  the  two  key- 
boards, in  the  way  of  hand-crossing  and  of  passages 
passing  one  another,  appeared  for  a  long  time  to  be 
almost  impossible  on  the  single  row  of  keys  of  the 
pianoforte.  But  in  recent  days  men  with  great  grasp 
of  technical  devices  have  contrived  ways  of  overcoming 
the  diificulties,  and  the  work  is  performed  as  often  as  its 
extreme  length  allows. 

Since  the  very  earliest  days  of  clavier  music  the 
composition  of  Variations  in  one  form  or  another  has 
had  a  great  fascination  for  composers.  Indeed,  they 
were  cultivated  more  profusely  in  the  early  days  than 
later,  because  of  the  lack  of  knowledge  of  principles 
on  which  long  movements  could  be  devised.  For 
when  composers  of  instrumental  music  wanted  to  keep 
their  audiences  engaged  for  m^ore  than  a  few  minutes 
at  a  time,  they  were  driven,  through  lack  of  knowledge 
of  principles  of  development,  to  the  expedient  of  playing 
popular  tunes  or  dances  over  and  over  again;  and  the 
most  hopeful  way  of  making  the  process  interesting 
was  to  introduce  a  variety  of  embellishments.  Out  of 
this  grew  up  quite  a  special  type  of  art,  and  the  embel- 
lishment and  variations  of  melodic  phrases  and  the 


47^  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

introduction  of  scales  and  passages  were  found  to  be 
useful  in  other  spheres  besides  mere  concise  tunes. 
Thus  it  was  transferred  to  the  quaint  form  known  as 
the  "Ut-Re-Mi-Fa,"  which  was  popular  from  the  time 
of  John  Bull  till  that  of  Froberger,  and  consisted  of  the 
reiteration  of  the  first  six  notes  of  the  scale  up  and  down, 
with  runs  and  arpeggios  and  all  sorts  of  different  fanciful 
devices  added  each  time.  To  the  same  category  belong 
the  forms  of  the  ''ground  bass"  or  ''ground  divisions," 
and  its  near  relative,  the  Chaconne,  which  figures  so 
frequently  in  Lulli's  operas  as  the  fmal  number  of  a 
set  of  ballet  tunes,  and  of  which  Bach  left  such  a  notable 
example  as  the  Chaconne  in  the  suite  in  D  minor  for 
violin  solo.  And  closely  akin  to  this  was  the  Passa- 
caglia,  of  which  he  also  left  such  a  magnificent  example 
in  C  minor  for  the  organ. 

The  profuse  cultivation  of  such  forms  of  Variations 
through  several  generations  of  distinguished  composers 
caused  this  special  branch  to  make  considerable 
progress.  The  first  effect  of  experience  generated  by 
practice  was  to  make  composers  see  the  advantage  of 
giving  individuality  to  each  variation  by  making  one 
type  of  ornament  or  musical  figure  prevail  through 
the  whole  of  it,  and  from  that  the  step  was  not  far  to 
making  use  of  the  character  so  obtained  for  purposes 
of  contrast  and  affinity.  The  fascination  of  variation- 
making  was  thenceforward  put  on  a  high  plane,  as  the 
respective  individual  variations  could  be  made  to 
express  any  condition  of  mood  which  was  at  the  com- 
poser's disposal,  such  as  gaiety,  grace,  tenderness,  force, 
melancholy,  fierceness,  caprice,  jollity,  and  so  on,  and 
the  varying  moods  could  be  grouped  in  such  a  way  as 
to  make  a  composite  whole  of  considerable  interest. 


The  Clavieriibung  477 

A  rather  more  than  usual  amount  of  groundwork  had 
therefore  been  done  before  Bach  came  on  the  scene, 
and  there  was  good  foundation  to  build  upon. 

The  Goldberg  Variations  are  among  the  few  instru- 
mental compositions  of  John  Sebastian's  to  which  it 
is  possible  to  allot  a  date  with  certainty.  Accordmg 
to  fairly  trustworthy  chroniclers,  Goldberg's  interests 
were  taken  in  hand  by  a  certain  Baron  Kaiserling, 
through  whose  instrumentality  he  became  for  a  time 
the  pupil,  first  of  Friedemann  Bach,  and  finally,  in 
1741,  of  John  Sebastian  himself.  Then  the  Baron, 
who  suffered  from  insomnia,  asked  Bach  to  write 
something  for  Goldberg  to  play  to  him  when  lying 
waiting  in  vain  for  sleep,  and  Bach  thereupon  composed 
this  immensely  long  series  of  variations,  which  is  said 
to  have  answered  so  well  that,  according  to  Forkel,  the 
Baron  gave  the  composer  a  snuff-box  with  a  hundred 
louis  d'or  therein.  History  does  not  record  what  was 
paid  to  Goldberg  for  undertaking  to  play  such  difficult 
music  late  at  night,  but  after  generations  will  certamly 
think  him  more  or  less  repaid  by  having  such  a  work 
associated  with  his  name;  and  it  is  through  that  cir- 
cumstance that  it  is  possible  to  identify  the  period 
when  the  variations  were  written.  For,  as  Goldberg 
became  Bach's  pupil  in  1741,  and  the  variations  were 
engraved  by  1742,  there  can  be  little  doubt  about  the 
period  of  their  composition.  The  work  may  therefore 
be  taken  to  represent  the  utmost  development  of 
Bach's  powers  in  this  particular  branch  of  clavier  music. 

It  certainly  takes  rank  with  the  few  greatest  exam- 
ples of  this  form  of  art  in  existence,  its  possible  rivals 
being  Beethoven's  Diabelli  variations,  the  variations  in 
the  "Modo  Lidico,"  Brahms's  variations  on  Handel  and 


47^  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

Haydn's  themes,  and  Bach's  own  chaconne  for  violin. 
Bach  anticipated  modern  developments,  for  the  step 
is  not  far  from  the  variation  which,  through  a  pre- 
vailing type  of  figure,  can  be  identified  with  a  charac- 
teristic mood,  to  the  standard  in  which  each  variation 
is  an  organised  little  work  of  art,  an  embodiment 
of  some  aesthetic,  modal,  or  artistic  idea,  only 
missing  completeness  sufficiently  to  take  its  place 
in  a  long  series  of  movements  whose  mutual  de- 
pendence is  subtly  disguised.  So  great  by  this  time 
had  Bach's  mastery  of  the  various  resources  of  art 
become,  that  no  two  variations  in  the  whole  series  of 
thirty  resemble  each  other.  Each  variation  unfolds 
some  new  and  delightful  aspect  of  musical  expression, 
some  new  effect  of  sound,  some  new  fascinating  device 
of  the  higher  artistic  type.  The  variety  of  style  seems 
inexhaustible,  and  yet  each  organic  unit  presents  somie 
necessary  dependence  on  its  neighbours  and  serves 
some  artistic  function  in  the  whole  scheme. 

The  technical  vivacity  is  so  great  that  Bach  actually 
anticipated  some  of  the  favourite  devices  of  the 
school  of  pianoforte  virtuosos,  of  whom  Liszt  was 
the  foremost  type.  And  as  if  it  were  not  enough 
to  comimand  all  these  resources,  he  subtly  throws 
in  a  little  item  of  playful  dexterity  in  the  shape 
of  a  series  of  canons  at  different  intervals,  beginning 
with  canon  at  the  unison  in  the  third  variation,  and 
proceeding  to  canon  at  the  second  in  the  sixth,  canon 
at  the  third  in  the  ninth,  and  so  on,  giving  a  new  canon 
a  step  wider  at  each  third  variation  until  the  twenty- 
seventh,  which  has  a  canon  at  the  ninth;  and  the 
technical  device  is  executed  with  such  perfect  ease 
that  the  absolute  fidelity  with  which  it  is  carried  out 


The  Clavieriibung  479 

could  hardly  be  divined  till  each  example  is  closely 
examined,  and  the  music  is  so  purely  and  spontane- 
ously delightful  that  there  is  hardly  a  moment  any- 
where when  the  smallest  constraint  is  perceptible. 

But  even  then  Bach's  resourcefulness  is  not  ex- 
hausted, for  he  gives  to  several  of  the  variations  well- 
known  art  forms.  The  tenth  variation  is  a  concise 
and  charming  Fughetta,  the  sixteenth  variation  is 
expanded  into  a  coniplete  French  Overture,  including 
the  slow  introduction  and  the  lively  fugal  movement, 
and  the  last  of  the  variations  is  a  "Quodlibet," — in 
other  words,  a  combination  of  folk-tunes  built  upon 
the  original  basis  of  the  theme.  Such  absolute  com- 
mand does  indeed  tend  to  produce  amazement.  There 
is  nothing  like  it  in  the  whole  range  of  Music. 

Bach  had  set  out  on  his  journey  with  the  overmaster- 
ing instinct  to  express  his  personality  in  the  terms  of 
art,  and,  with  an  attendant  instinct  for  what  was 
lofty  and  pure  which  has  never  been  excelled  by  any 
composer  whatever,  he  toiled  on  without  any  relaxa- 
tion of  effort  from  the  days  of  his  youth  till  the  time 
of  his  departure  seemed  almost  in  sight,  developing 
his  artistic  powers  by  his  unique  methods  of  studying 
with  the  utmost  closeness  the  artistic  work  of  all 
composers  who  excelled  in  anything,  and  emulating 
each  in  his  special  province  till  the  whole  of  what  was 
of  worth  in  the  musical  art  of  the  world  was  assimi- 
lated into  the  copious  but  consistently  characteristic 
range  of  his  personality.  If  the  Goldberg  set  of  varia- 
tions be  not  absolutely  his  most  astonishing  feat,  it  is 
one  of  the  works  in  which  he  opens  the  door  of  his  store- 
house most  frankly,  that  they  who  have  understanding 
may  see  the  fruitfulness  of  the  loyalty  of  his  lifetime. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  SECOND  SERIES  OF  TWENTY-FOUR  PRELUDES  AND 
FUGUES 

It  must  have  been  about  the  time  that  Bach  was 
busy  completing  the  ''Clavieriibung"  that  he  finally 
put  in  order  and  completed  the  second  collection  of 
twenty-four  Preludes  and  Fugues  which  are  generally 
looked  upon  as  the  second  half  of  the  *' Wohltemperirtes 
Clavier,"  and  thereby  gave  the  excuse  for  the  title  of 
*'The  Forty-eight,"  by  which  the  two  series  have 
commonly  been  known  in  England.  But  long  since 
the  days  when  they  fortunately  established  their  hold 
on  the  affection  of  English  musicians  and  came  to  need 
an  English  title,  careful  consideration  of  the  story 
makes  it  more  than  doubtful  whether  he  intended 
the  second  series  to  be  a  continuation  of  the  first. 
That  he  meant  it  to  be  a  parallel  collection  cannot  be 
doubted,  in  view  of  the  number  of  the  movements  and 
their  grouping.  Unfortunately  there  is  an  absolute 
dearth  of  any  evidence  with  regard  to  it.  The  first 
had  a  copious  title-page  with  the  date  of  its  completion 
in  Bach's  own  handwriting.  Of  the  latter  collection 
there  is  not  even  a  complete  manuscript,  and  only 
indecisive  circumstantial  evidence  that  it  was  com- 
pleted either  by  1740  or  1744.     It  is  quite  clear  that 

480 


2d  Series — Preludes  and  Fugues     481 

it  was  brought  together  in  much  the  same  fashion  as  the 
first;  for,  as  is  the  case  with  that,  several  of  the  in- 
dividual movements  exist  in  less  complete  forms,  and 
some  also  in  different  keys.  What  especially  distin- 
guishes the  second  from  the  first  collection  is  the  qual- 
ity, form,  and  proportions  of  the  preludes.  Their 
character  strongly  suggests  that  many  of  them  were 
written  independently,  for  their  extent  is  often  so  great 
as  to  overbalance  the  fugues,  and  their  style  is  not 
always  consistent  with  them.  Moreover,  the  peculiari- 
ties of  design  are  so  decisive  in  their  significance  as 
to  make  it  almost  certain  that  many  of  them  were 
written  as  experiments  in  schemes  of  form  which  the 
composer  had  never  once  touched  in  the  first  collection. 
How  greatly  they  differ  from  the  preludes  of  the 
earlier  series  may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  while 
in  the  first  the  considerable  majority  are  in  the  old 
prelude-form  described  above  (p.  1 50) ,  which  consists  of 
a  series  of  harmonies  presented  in  terms  of  musical 
figures,  in  the  second  collection  there  is  only  one 
in  this  form,  and  the  form  in  that  case  is  subject 
to  conspicuous  modifications.  And  moreover  while 
in  the  first  series  there  is  not  a  single  Prelude 
which  is  dividea  into  two  distinct  portions  by  a 
double  bar,  after  the  manner  of  movements  in  suites 
and  sonatas,  there  are  no  less  than  ten  Preludes 
in  the  second  series  which  are  so  divided,  with  the 
usual  indications  for  repeating  the  two  halves;  and 
many  other  Preludes  are  constructed  upon  principles 
which  presuppose  the  scheme  of  design  which  induced 
this  usage.  In  order  to  verify  the  fact  that  Bach  was 
making  experiments  in  distributing  the  components 
of  movements  of  the  type  found  in  suites  and  early 

31 


482  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

sonatas  in  various  different  ways,  it  is  indispensable  to 
have  a  just  idea  of  the  manner  in  which  the  evolution 
of  the  form  of  the  typical  first  movement  in  classical 
sonatas  came  about;  and  it  is  necessary  to  disabuse  the 
mind  of  the  theory  that  the  scheme  of  the  typical  first 
movement  of  the  classical  sonata  was  an  evolution 
from  the  aria-form,  as  otherwise  Bach's  speculations 
in  these  remarkable  Preludes  become  unintelligible. 

When  composers  began  to  expand  the  concise  types 
of  dance  movements  into  ampler  proportions  and  to 
enhance  their  interest  by  artistic  subtleties  and  delica- 
cies of  presentment,  they  soon  found  the  advantage  of 
producing  the  effect  of  coherence  by  making  the  musical 
material  of  the  first  few  bars  of  the  second  half  of  the 
movement  correspond  with  the  musical  material  of 
the  bars  which  occupied  parallel  positions  in  the  first 
half,  and  the  materials  of  the  close  of  each  half 
to  correspond  in  a  similar  manner.  The  process 
is  of  the  simplest  type  of  orderliness  —  such  as 
a  methodical  man  might  adopt  in  laying  out  a 
garden  plot.  And  as  the  first  half  of  the  move- 
ment ended  in  the  key  of  contrast,  the  second  half, 
starting  from  that  point,  presented  the  initial  phrases 
of  the  movement  also  in  the  key  of  contrast;  and  the 
final  bars  of  the  movem.ent  furnished  a  corresponding 
reversal  by  presenting  the  features  of  the  close  of  the 
first  half  of  the  movement  in  the  principal  key.  Taking 
capital  letters  to  represent  the  musical  materials,  and 
numerals  the  keys,  the  order  would  be  simply  A  i,  B  2, 
A  2,  B  I,  and  this  simple  design  Bach  adopted  from 
earlier  composers  in  the  large  majority  of  his  suite 
movements.  The  story  of  the  evolution  of  the  form 
of  the  first  movement  of  classical  sonatas  from  this 


2d  Series — Preludes  and  Fugues     4S3 

point  was,  that  as  subjects  and  presentations  of  keys 
became  by  degrees  more  and  more  definite,  the  first 
subject  took  upon  itself  such  pre-eminent  significance 
that  the  mere  reference  to  it  at  the  beginning  of  the 
second  half  of  the  movement  did  not  satisfy  the  instinct 
of  proportion.  So,  when  return  was  made  to  the 
principal  key  at  the  end  of  the  movement,  its  effect 
was  enhanced  by  introducing  the  first  subject  at  the 
point  where  the  principal  key  was  resumed  and  repeat- 
ing the  second  subject  after  it;  and  it  will  be  seen 
presently  that  Bach  in  his  speculative  experiments 
anticipated  this  procedure.  The  result  was  that  the 
first  subject  then  made  its  appearance  three  times, 
and  this  was  felt  to  be  superfluous;  so  the  reference  to 
the  principal  subject  at  the  beginning  of  the  second 
half  of  the  movement  was  dropped,  and  the  period  of 
rambling  through  various  keys,  which  is  called  the 
"working  out"  or  "free  fantasia,"  began  at  once  after 
the  double  bar. 

The  movements  which  definitely  accord  with  the 
early  type  of  suite  movements  are  the  Preludes  in  C 
minor,  No.  2;  D  sharp  minor.  No.  8;  E  minor,  No.  10; 
andG  major, No.  15, and — with  certain  amplification: — 
that  in  E  major.  No.  9.  The  C  minor  is  an  interest- 
ing presentation  of  the  suite  type  of  movement  in 
terms  of  the  prelude  type,  often  referred  to,  in  which 
a  simple  little  figure  persists  almost  throughout.  It 
is  therefore  one  of  the  numerous  examples  of  Bach's 
experiments  in  combined  forms.  In  the  Prelude  in 
D  sharp  minor,  a  characteristic  portion  from  the 
middle  of  the  first  part  (bars  6  to  10)  is  repeated  in 
extenso  in  the  second  half,  and  by  a  curious  combina- 
tion of  circumstances,  which   seems   almost   chance, 


484  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

the  first  passage  of  the  movement  actually  makes  its 
reappearance  at  exactly  the  very  place  where  the 
first  subject  would  recur  in  a  classical  sonata  movement, 
and  has  the  passage  with  which  the  first  half  ended 
grafted  on  to  it  to  conclude  the  movement.  In  the 
E  minor  Prelude,  the  figures  of  the  opening  suffuse  all 
the  earlier  part  of  the  second  half  of  the  movement 
without  being  stated  in  very  definite  terms,  but  a  long 
passage  of  the  latter  part  of  the  movement — no  less 
indeed  than  twenty-eight  bars — is  a  repetition,  trans- 
posed and  inverted  with  variations  of  detail  and  slight 
expansions,  of  the  passage  from  the  twenty-fourth  bar 
to  the  end  of  the  first  half.  The  Prelude  in  E  major — 
one  of  the  most  perfect — is  an  example  of  the  suite  type, 
with  the  enhancement  of  a  most  captivating  Coda. 
The  charmingly  slight  and  gay  Prelude  in  G  major 
is  exactly  on  the  lines  of  a  suite  movement,  and 
resembles  some  of  the  allemandes  in  its  continuity 
and  even  in  its  style. 

A  step  farther  on  come  the  Preludes  in  D,  No.  5; 
F  minor,  No.  12;  and  G  sharp  minor,  No.  18.  These 
approximate  more  nearly  to  the  sonata  type,  as  the 
subjects  stand  out  more  decisively  from  the  context. 
That  in  D  major  is  to  all  appearances  a  counterpart  or 
rearrangement  of  a  movement  from  a  concerto  for 
orchestra.  The  well-marked  first  subject  makes  its 
appearance  at  the  beginning  of  the  second  half  of  the 
movement  (with  melody  inverted),  and  not  only  so, 
but  after  the  period  of  wandering  there  is  the  charac- 
teristic halt  which  is  so  familiar  in  classical  sonatas; 
the  first  subject  is  as  deliberately  presented  as  it  would 
be  by  Mozart,  and  the  process  of  turning  subdominant- 
wards  is  adopted,  just  as  in  classical  sonatas,  which  en- 


2d  Series — Preludes  and  Fugues     485 

ables  the  material  of  the  end  of  the  first  half  (beginning 
with  the  seventh  bar  from  the  end)  to  be  presented  in 
the  principal  key.  So  that  with  the  exception  of  the 
dexterous  modulation  in  the  third  and  fourth  bars, 
the  last  sixteen  bars  are  a  recapitulation  (with  inci- 
dental variations)  of  the  same  portion  of  the  first  half 
of  the  movement  up  to  the  double  bar.  The  scheme 
is,  therefore,  exactly  that  of  the  first  movement  of  a 
classical  sonata. 

The  Prelude  in  F  minor  is  even  more  remarkable, 
because  the  subjects  are  so  strongly  characterised  and 
separated  from  the  context.  And  also,  be  it  remarked 
in  parenthesis,  that  it  is  very  Italian  in  style;  which  is 
the  more  noteworthy  because,  as  a  rule,  Bach's  experi- 
ments in  Italian  style  are  intrinsically  inferior  to  his 
other  works,  and  this  example  is  decidedly  not  so. 
The  two  contrasting  keys,  F  minor  and  A  flat,  are  very 
strongly  and  clearly  dift erentiated ;  and  the  movement 
is  an  example  of  the  intermediate  stage  of  evolution 
above  characterised  (p.  483)  in  which  the  principal  sub- 
ject makes  its  appearance  at  the  beginning  of  the  second 
half  of  the  movement  as  well  as  the  place  where  it  would 
be  expected  in  a  classical  sonata.  But  thereby  comes 
a  charming  manifestation  of  Bach's  readiness.  Inas- 
much as  the  movement  is  very  short,  every  feature 
requires  the  most  compact  statement.  Bach  evidently 
felt  that  the  full  repetition  of  the  first  subject  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  movement  would  have  had  a  purely 
formal  effect.  It  is  perfectly  easy  to  verify  the  fact 
by  inserting  the  first  eight  bars  at  the  point  where  the 
key  of  F  minor  is  resumed  and  dovetailing  it  on  to  the 
fourteenth  bar  from  the  end.  Ordinary  composers  of 
classical  sonatas  would  have  done  it  in  that  fashion. 


488  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

over.  The  striking  passage  in  bars  13  to  18  is  repeated 
in  bars  5  to  8  of  the  second  half,  and  the  passage  in  bars 
9  to  12  in  the  first  half  is  repeated  in  bars  21  to  24  in 
the  second  half;  from  which  it  appears  that  Bach  was 
pleased  with  the  constructive  effect. 

The  extensive  Prelude  in  F  major  is  interesting  on 
the  ground  of  further  combination  of  types.  It  is  in 
the  weightiest  and  most  serious  contrapuntal  style, 
more  like  that  of  organ  than  clavier  music,  and  seems 
to  lead  the  hearer  to  expect  something  on  the  toccata 
lines.  And  mdeed  he  miight  well  be  deceived  for  a  time 
for  the  movement  has  no  double  bar  and  sounds  quite 
like  an  organ  toccata. 1  But  when  it  is  examined  more 
attentively  it  is  found  that  the  whole  of  the  first  fifteen 
bars  are  repeated  at  the  end  with  merely  the  change 
of  modulation  subdominantwards,  as  in  the  D  major 
prelude,  to  make  the  latter  part  remain  in  the  key. 
So  the  movement,  in  spite  of  its  having  no  double  bar, 
is  an  experiment  in  contrapuntal  style  in  sonata  form. 

A  suggestive  parallel  is  offered  in  the  C  sharp  minor 
Prelude,  No.  4.  For  in  this  case,  again,  there  is  no 
double  bar;  but  a  strong  point  is  made  in  the  key  of 
G  sharp  minor  in  the  seventeenth  bar,  and  the  passage 
at  the  end  of  the  whole  movement  is  a  repetition  (with 
variations)  of  the  five  bars  immediately  preceding  that 
close,  as  though  the  double  bar  had  occurred  there. 
A  similar  point  is  illustrated  in  the  Prelude  in  B,  No. 
23.  The  singularly  interesting  and  sinuous  prelude  in 
A  minor  is  yet  another  speculation.  The  two  halves 
are  exactly  the  same  length,  but  the  correspondences 

'  Though  it  has  no  double  bar,  the  place  where  it  would 
occur  is  confirmed  by  the  marked  reference  to  the  opening 
passage  in  the  bass. 


2d  Series — Preludes  and  Fugues     489 

are  all  by  inversion  and  in  double  counterpoint. 
Hardly  any  of  the -repetitions  are  exact;  and  yet  almost 
bar  by  bar  they  seem  to  balance  and  to  reproduce  the 
musical  purport.  The  subtlety  of  the  artistic  man- 
agement is  most  characteristic,  as  it  is  miore  by  the 
spirit  than  by  the  letter  that  the  correspondences  are 
suggested. 

In  all  these  preludes  some  definite  intention  is  per- 
ceptible, showing  how  Bach's  marvellous  vitality  of 
mind,  fortified  by  the  amazing  amount  of  actual  prac- 
tice in  writing,  explored  and  sanely  widened  the  range 
of  his  art.  It  brings  to  mind  the  story  of  his  being 
asked  how  he  achieved  his  wonderful  work,  and  his 
modest  answer  that  it  was  by  assiduous  application, 
and  that  anyone  who  applied  himself  as  steadfastly 
could  do  as  much. 

The  above  survey  does  not  exhaust  all  phases  of 
experiment,  but  will  serve  to  show  the  attitude  of 
Bach's  mind  towards  art's  development.  For  the  rest, 
the  exquisitely  tender  Prelude  in  B  minor,  No.  24,  is 
the  most  elaborately  organised  development  of  the 
old  prelude  type  in  a  form  which  dimly  suggests  har- 
monic form  of  the  sonata  order.  The  tender  melodious 
Prelude  in  F  sharp  minor,  No.  14,  has  a  complete  re- 
capitulation at  the  end,  though  it  has  no  double  bar, 
and  some  of  the  other  preludes  have  passages  which 
correspond  with  one  another  in  various  parts  of  the 
movements,  and  suggest  speculative  experiments, 
but  of  less  decisive  importance  than  those  above  con- 
sidered. 

From  the  intrinsic  musical  point  of  view,  the 
amount  of  consideration  devoted  to  these  Preludes  may 
seem  disproportionate.     But  they  are  so  important  as 


490  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

showing  the  constant  development  of  Bach's  mind 
and  the  direction  which  this  development  had  taken 
between  the  time  of  the  bringing  together  of  the  first 
series  and  the  second,  that  they  demand  the  closest 
scrutiny.  In  some  ways  his  cogitations  and  experi- 
ments in  forms  which  had  an  Italian  origin  were  not 
always  entirely  happy,  as  they  somewhat  obscured  the 
Teutonic  quality  which  was  so  essential  a  part  of  his 
personal  character.  In  making  his  art  more  cosm^o- 
politan  these  speculations  occasionally  lessened  the 
depth  of  poetic  feeling  which  was  his  greatest  glory. 
But  this  is  not  observable  in  the  preludes  of  this  collec- 
cion,  as  the  prolonged  revival  of  Teutonic  impulse 
which  has  been  described  in  connection  with  his  later 
cantatas  had  re-established  the  natural  bias  of  his  mind. 
The  remarks  which  have  been  made  about  the  fugues 
in  the  first  collection  apply  equally  to  those  in  the  later 
one.  The  proportion  of  fugues  which  fulfil  the  condi- 
tions laid  down  by  the  pundits  is  very  small.  There 
are  some  surprising  tours  de  force  in  the  matter  of 
strettos  here  and  there,  as  in  the  fugues  in  D  major  and 
B  flat  minor,  and  wonderful  employment  of  canonic 
devices  in  the  fugue  in  E  major;  but  it  certainly  is  a  fact 
worth  noting,  that  out  of  the  twenty-four  fugues 
twelve  have  no  strettos  at  all,  and  three  more  only 
have  them  in  a  rather  perfunctory  condition.  It  also 
invites  speculation  when  it  is  observed  that  most  of 
the  fugues  which  have  strettos  lie  in  one  group,  and 
those  without  strettos  in  another  group;  there  being 
strettos  in  all  the  fugues  from  the  second  to  the  ninth, 
while  all  the  fugues  from  the  tenth  to  the  twenty- 
first,  with  the  not  very  decisive  exception  of  the 
seventeenth,  are   strettoless.      It  is  conceivable  that 


2d  Series — Preludes  and  Fugues     491 

this  distribution  was  intentional;  but  it  may  also  have 
been  a  singular  accident.  The  reason  why  so  many 
have  no  stretto  is  mainly  that  so  many  fugues  in 
this  collection  are  essentially  instrumental  in  style, 
which  is  not  favourable  to  the  display  of  fugal 
dexterities  of  the  old  order.  It  may,  indeed,  be 
pointed  out  that  the  rule  seems  almost  universal 
in  this  collection,  as  elsewhere  in  Bach's  works,  that 
fugues  that  lean  in  the  direction  of  the  old  choral  style 
are  those  in  which  the  ancient  prescriptions  of  fugue 
with  episodes,  counter-expositions,  and  various  phases 
of  strettos  and  canonic  imitations  are  carried  out,  and 
that  fugues  which  are  frankly  instrumental  in  character 
make  little  or  no  pretence  of  such  features. 

It  so  happens  that  in  this  collection  the  fugues  which 
approximate  to  the  old  style  of  counterpoint  are  few  in 
number.  The  Fugue  in  E  major  is  the  one  which  is  most 
nearly  vocal,  and  it  happens  also  to  be  one  of  the  most 
perfectly  beautiful  and  the  most  perfect  as  a  work  of 
art,  whether  judged  from  the  point  of  view  of  texture, 
closeness  and  coherence  of  treatment  of  the  subjects, 
or  of  form.  There  are  barely  half  a  dozen  fugues  alto- 
gether which  have  the  antique  choral  character,  for 
those  in  D  major,  E  flat  major,  G  minor,  B  flat  minor, 
and  B  major  with  the  above  mentioned  w^ould  complete 
the  most  liberal  list.  Bach's  object  in  using  the  fugal 
form  here,  as  in  the  first  collection,  is  to  make  fme 
pieces  of  music,  not  displays  of  dexterity.  Where  a 
characteristic  subject  invites  dexterous  manipulation 
of  canonic  devices,  Bach  sometimes  makes  liberal  use 
of  the  opportunity ;  but  where  it  does  not,  a  higher  kind 
of  dexterity  is  exercised  which  more  than  compensates 
for  the  absence  of  strettos  because  the  result   is  less 


492  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

formal.  It  is  noticeable  that  in  many  of  these  fugues 
Bach  makes  great  use  of  short,  characteristic  figures 
taken  from  the  subject  or  the  counter  subject,  inter- 
changing them,  and  presenting  them  in  a  variety  of 
phases  just  as  a  late  modern  composer  of  sonatas  or 
symphonies  would  do  in  what  is  called  the  ''working 
out"  portion  of  sonatas,  and  even  anticipating  Wag- 
ner's use  of  the  Leitmotiv  and  the  stock  in  trade  of 
the  latter-day  rhapsodists. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  observed  that  at  the 
point  where  the  learned  pundit  would  recommend  the 
docile  composer  to  put  a  stretto,  Bach,  for  the  purpose 
of  general  artistic  effect  is  usually  busy  making  a  spe- 
cially fme  succession  of  harmonies,  which  move  with 
elastic  strides  to  the  fmal  cadence,  and  minister  not  a 
little  to  that  surprising  sense  of  elation  which  so  many 
of  Bach's  fugues  convey.  This  is  sometimes  compatible 
with  strettos,  as  in  the  case  of  the  great  Fugue  in  B  flat 
minor,  but  it  is  much  more  eftectually  feasible  in  a 
majority  of  cases  by  taking  characteristic  figures  out 
of  the  subject  and  building  the  whole  texture  of  the 
progressions  upon  them.  The  latter  half  of  the  tre- 
mendously forcible  Fugue  in  A  minor,  and  of  the 
delightfully  characteristic  Fugue  in  F  minor  supply 
obvious  illustrations.  The  former  is  an  admirable 
example  of  the  freedom  with  which  Bach  treats  the 
fugal  principle.  The  subject  is  strongly  marked  and 
emphatic,  and  for  that  very  reason  Bach  appears  to 
avoid  making  it  too  obtrusive  in  its  recurrences.  It 
only  makes  its  appearance  five  times  altogether  after 
the  exposition,  in  the  whole  course  of  the  fugue,  and 
of  those  five  times  only  twice  quite  literally;  the  other 
three  times  the  first  emphatic  note  is  changed  to  half 


2d  Series — Preludes  and  Fugues     493 

its  value  and  sophisticated  by  actual  alteration  to  a 
lower  note  so  as  to  make  its  entry  as  unobtrusive  as 
possible.  And  the  observant  mind  in  listening  finds 
that  the  subject  is  going  on  without  having  caught 
decisively  how  it  came  in !  But  the  greater  part  ol  the 
business  of  the  fugue  consists  of  rapid  repartees  between 
the  different  voices  quoting  the  figure  of  the  second 
half  of  the  subject 


W^^^^^^ 


and  phrases  taken  from  the  counter-subject,  especially 
the  little  tail-piece. 


im=tm 


as  for  instance  the  following  passage; 

tr. 


#-^^' 

— ^       ""=5- 

—w — 

^ 

7  r 

-r  : 

r— 

1 

r    r  r 

E ' 

# 

— # 1 

-^-^ 

tr. 

#-T— T- 

_^ ^ 

I 

tr. 

f^' — r — If — 

— # 

t 

R— t-t — 

— h 

•                0 

494  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

The  most  striking  feature  in  the  fugue  is  the  treat- 
ment of  the  Httle  figure  from  the  counter  subject 
which,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  fugue  where  concen- 
tration of  interest  is  required,  is  made  to  mount  step 
by  step  up  two  whole  octaves  and  a  semitone,  giving 
thereby  a  splendid  sense  of  scope  i ;  while  by  finish- 
ing the  passage  on  the  flat  second  of  the  key  it 
gives  a  vivid  impulse  to  the  final  downward  pro- 
gressions of  harmony.  Similar  qualities  have  been 
noticed  in  fugues  of  the  first  series,  showing  how  little 
Bach  thought  it  necessary  to  present  an  entire  subject 
when  he  could  make  play  with  its  component  figures 
or  "nuclei."  The  instance  will  serve  to  confirm  what 
has  been  said  of  his  anticipating  the  procedure  of 
the  "free  fantasia"  of  classical  sonatas  and  even  of 
Wagner's  and  later  composers'  use  of  a  "Leitmotiv." 
In  the  F  minor  fugue  a  different  surprise  awaits  the 
pundit;  for  the  pre-eminence  of  the  principal  subject 
of  the  fugue  is  challenged  at  once  by  a  quaint  and 
attractive  accessory  which  makes  its  appearance 
parenthetically  in   the  first  episode: 


and  is  almost  invariably  introduced   directly  after  the 
first  subject  has  said  its  say,  as  if  in  playful  mock- 
ery.    It  even  has  the  last  word.     The  whole  thing 
is  essentially  human! 
The  types  are  many;   and  not  a  few  are  counterparts 

1  Compare  the  passage  near  the  end  of  the  central  move- 
ment of  the  early  fantasia  in  G  for  organ  where  the  bass 
mounts  up  through  an  octave  and  a  half. 


2d  Series — Preludes  and  Fugues  495 

of  fugues  in  the  first  collecticn,  treated  with  new  artistic 
phases.  A  counterpart  to  that  rare  piece  of  dehcacy 
and  tender  melancholy,  the  fugue  in  G  sharp  minor  in 
the  first  series,  is  presented  in  the  fugue  in  D sharp  minor 
in  the  second;  extending  even  to  the  subtle  harmonies 
and  the  general  scheme  and  tone-quality  of  the  close. 
The  familiar  type  of  vivaciously  rhythmic  fugue,  like 
that  of  the  second  and  third  in  the  first  series,  is  repre- 
sented by  the  first  in  C  and  the  twelfth  in  F  minor  above 
alluded  to,  and  the  seventeenth  in  A  flat  and  the  last 
in  B  minor.  Of  the  whirling  type  there  are  the  fugues 
in  D  minor,  C  sharp  minor,  and  F,  which  last  sug- 
gests kinship  with  the  gigue  in  the  G  major  French 
suite.  The  fugue  in  G  major  stands  by  itself.  It 
must  certainly  belong  to  the  whirling  group — but 
it  is  the  whirl  of  a  wraith  or  of  a  light  moonlit  cloud, 
so  swiftly  and  lightly  does  it  pass.  And  yet  there  is 
something  singularly  human  in  the  scheme  which  be- 
gins so  high  and  so  brightly,  and  sweeps  down  into  the 
depths  at  the  end;  from  which  point  there  is  a  rush  as 
of  sudden  breath  which  wafts  it  abruptly  into  space. 
Meditative  fugues  are  represented  by  those  in  F  sharp 
major  and  F  sharp  minor,  and  that  marvel  of 
mystery,  the  fugue  in  G  sharp  minor,  which  might 
be  taken  as  a  very  distant  and  slow-pacing  pro- 
genitor of  the  last  movement  of  Chopin's  sonata 
in  B  flat  miinor.  Of  the  weighty,  massive  types 
there  are  the  fugues  in  D  major,  G  minor,  and  B  flat 
minor,  all  conspicuous  for  the  amount  of  fugal  devices 
displayed  in  them,  as  indeed  befits  their  essentially 
dignified  bearing.  Of  the  quietly-moving,  soberly- 
beautiful  fugues  there  are  the  second  in  C  minor,  the 
seventh  in   E  flat,   the   wonderful  slow-pacing  med- 


49^  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

itation  in  E  major,  and  the  melodious  and  soothing 
fugue  in  B  major.  The  rest  of  the  fugues  are 
mainly  studies  in  rather  abstruse  artistic  problems 
such  as  the  fugue  in  E  minor,  in  which  Bach  endeavours 
to  combine  a  number  of  different  rhythmic  units  in 
one  subject.  The  experiment  is  quite  singularly  out 
of  the  ordinary  range  of  fugue,  and  the  part-writing  is 
at  times  very  surprising;  and  among  other  peculiar- 
ities he  helps  himself  out  at  the  end  by  introducing 
a  fourth  part  without  reference  to  the  subject,  the 
fugue  being  really  in  three  parts.  The  feature  is  not 
without  parallel,  as  a  fifth  part  is  introduced  at  the 
end  of  the  fugue  in  A  flat  after  the  pedalesque  ca- 
denza which  is  so  like  passages  in  the  great  toccata  in 
F.  The  nineteenth  fugue  in  A  major  is  also  a  little 
abstruse  in  the  same  sense,  and  so  is  the  twenty-first  in 
B  flat,  the  intention  of  which  was  to  apply  the  charac- 
teristic quality  of  a  subject  which  began  on  a  note 
which  is  both  rhythmically  and  tonally  indefinite. 

Consideration  of  the  fugues  in  this  fashion  brings 
home  to  the  mind  how  little  space  the  m^ere  ingenuities 
and  conventions  of  fugue  occupy.  Bach  happily  dis- 
tinguishes between  the  mechanism  and  the  purpose  for 
which  mechanism  serves.  Mechanism  is  generally  most 
aggressive  with  composers  whose  mastery  of  it  is  in- 
sufficient, which  causes  them  to  make  it  appear  that 
they  regard  its  dexterous  management  as  an  end  in 
itself.  The  point  of  the  story  of  J.  S.  Bach  is  that  his 
enormous  labour  in  mastering  every  field  of  artistic 
manipulation  had  given  him  such  ease  that  even  in  the 
most  difficult  situations  there  is  nothing  to  distract 
him  from  the  full  expression  of  his  personality. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

WORKS  FOR  CLAVIER  AND  ORGAN 

The  prolonged  maintenance  of  mental  concentration - 
upon  a  single  great  work,  or  a  group  of  kindred  works, 
is  more  characteristic  of  northern  than  southern  races. 
It  has  rarely  been  more  conspicuously  manifested  than 
by  J.  S.  Bach.  His  life  seems  to  be  clearly  parcelled 
out  into  periods  during  which  he  was  directing  his 
attention  to  various  great  works,  or  works  which  natu- 
rally fall  into  groups  by  reason  of  their  affinities.  Yet 
even  he  had  moments  such  as  any  worker  who  has  to 
undergo  a  prolonged  strain  of  mental  energy  is  aware 
of,  when  productive  powers  were  temporarily  diverted 
from  a  central  object  into  side  issues,  and  nature 
asserted  her  claims  to  relief  by  causing  a  distraction, 
and  inviting  the  exercise  of  different  mental  muscles 
from  those  engaged  upon  the  principal  work  of  the 
time.  This  is  proved  by  the  huge  mass  of  Bach's  dis- 
connected individual  works  of  various  kinds,  such  as 
isolated  fugues,  groups  of  preludes  and  fugues,  suites, 
variations,  toccatas,  chorale  preludes,  sonatas,  fan- 
tasias, and  dance  movements  for  all  manner  of  instru- 
ments (including  the  lute  and  the  viola  pomposa), 
which  must  have  filled  up  the  interstices  between  his 
periods  of  absorption  on  the  works  of  more  conspicuous 
32  497 


49^  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

importance.  The  dates  when  they  were  written  are 
for  the  most  part  beyond  identification,  and  therefore 
they  do  not  serve  to  illustrate  the  development  of 
Bach's  artistic  resources  in  any  particular  period  of  his 
life.  But  it  is  undesirable  to  pass  them  by  without 
recognition. 

Among  the  most  conspicuous  is  a  fugue  in  A  minor 
for  clavier  (P.  T.  V.  I.,  144-145),  to  which  is  appended, 
by  way  of  a  prelude,  a  series  of  chords,  which  are  in- 
tended to  be  arpeggioed  in  accordance  with  the  taste  of 
the  performer.  The  instances  in  which  Bach  has  left  a 
complete  movement  in  such  an  unilluminated  form  are 
very  rare,  though  there  are  parallel  passages  in  the 
"Chromatische  Fantasie"  and  in  some  parts  of  early 
versions  of  the  preludes  in  the  first  part  of  the  "  Wohl- 
temperirtes  Clavier."  It  confirms  the  theory  of  the 
origin  of  the  primitive  type  of  prelude,  and  indicates 
that  Bach  devised  such  little  works  quite  candidly 
from  the  point  of  view  of  mere  successions  of  chords. 
It  is  unlikely  that  in  this  case  (any  more  than  in  the 
passages  in  the  "Chromatische  Fantasie")  he  would 
have  written  anything  specially  characteristic  as  the 
equivalent  to  the  chords.  The  passages  were  probably 
played  as  a  series  of  simple  arpeggios  up  and  down. 
The  fugue  was  almost  certainly  written  first,  and  was 
purely  a  matter  of  impulse.  It  is  the  longest  and 
most  brilliant  of  all  Bach's  fugues  for  the  clavier,  and 
shows  an  affinity  with  the  famous  Weimar  organ  fugue 
in  D  major  in  the  ceaseless  motion  of  semiquavers. 
And  there  is,  moreover,  a  characteristic  feature  which 
emphasises  this  kinship.  In  speaking  of  that  fugue 
(p.  63)  attention  was  called  to  the  manner  in  which 
Bach  developed  a  cadenza  for  the  pedals  at  the  end 


Works  for  Clavier  and  Organ     499 

out  of  a  characteristic  feature  of  the  subject.  In  this 
clavier  fugue  the  conclusion  is  made  exceptionally 
exciting  in  a  similar  manner  by  a  culminating  passage 
beginning  low  down  in  the  scale  and  spreading  out 
till  it  envelops  the  whole  field  of  tone,  which  is  de- 
veloped entirely  out  of  the  first  figure  of  the  subject. 
The  subject  commences  as  follows: 


,J=f^ 


I 

The  kinship  manifested  in  such  fashion  would  give  a 
plausible  excuse  to  attribute  this  work  to  the  Weimar 
period,  but  the  extent  and  closeness  of  its  development 
make  it  open  to  question  whether  it  was  not  of  later 
time. 

A  great  many  of  these  detached  works  were  experi- 
ments, such  as  a  detached  fantasia  in  C  minor  in 
Italian  style,  and  sundry  brilliant  toccatas;  and  not  a 
few  are  short  versions  of  works  which  Bach  amplified 
and  rewrote  at  some  later  time.  Some  few  are  collec- 
tions of  works  which  spread  over  a  very  long  period  of 
years.  His  life  was  so  copiously  occupied  that  it  must 
frequently  have  happened  that  a  promising  beginning 


500  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

had  to  be  left  for  a  time  undeveloped  while  he  attended 
to  something  which  was  absolutely  urgent.  So,  even 
in  cases  where  chronology  is  not  impenetrably  obscure, 
it  yet  happens  that  it  cannot  be  said  exactly  what 
period  of  his  life  is  represented  by  some  special  group 
of  works.  This  is  the  case  with  the  works  commonly 
known  as  the  six  Sonatas  for  the  organ,  which  are 
nowhere  authoritatively  described  as  for  that  instru- 
ment, but  on  a  title-page  (which  may  be  of  Bach's 
time  or  soon  after)  as  "Six  Sonatas  for  Two  Keyboards 
and  Pedal,"  by  which  is  most  probably  intended  a 
harpsichord  with  two  rows  of  keys  and  pedals. 

Whether  they  were  meant  for  organ  or  clavier,  in 
any  case  they  are  quite  exceptional  among  Bach's 
works.  Their  origin  was,  without  doubt,  the  impulse 
to  try  how  the  type  of  the  Italian  violin  sonata  would 
answer  as  a  work  for  a  single  performer.  Since  Bach 
was  always  prone  to  follow  up  a  train  of  thought  or  a  new 
line  of  work,  it  is  very  likely  that  these  sonatas  were 
begun  at  Cothen,  as  a  kind  of  sequel  to  the  sonatas  for 
violin  and  clavier  or  flute  and  clavier.  In  these  works 
Bach  had  made  quite  a  special  point  of  writing  in 
three  parts,  one  for  the  solo  instrument  and  one  apiece 
for  the  hands  of  the  clavier  player;  and  it  evidently 
struck  him  that  something  specially  interesting  mxight 
be  achieved  under  the  favourable  conditions  of  putting 
all  three  parts  at  the  disposal  of  one  performer  on  a 
single  instrument,  and  that  if  the  two  upper  parts 
were  made  as  independent  as  they  would  be  with  a 
flute  solo  and  a  clavier  player,  the  soloist  might  have 
some  interesting  and  profitable  occupation  in  learning 
to  play  the  works.  And  indeed,  in  transferring  the 
type  to  the  clavier.  Bach  made  the  most  of  this  quality. 


Works  for  Clavier  and  Organ      501 

for  these  sonatas  gain  quite  a  special  character  from 
the  manner  in  which  he  makes  use  of  the  device  of 
crossing  the  hands  and  interlacing  the  parts  which 
are  given  to  them.  It  seems  indeed  to  be  his  cue  in 
these  works,  and  the  effect  is  to  make  the  works  extra- 
ordinarily serviceable  to  develop  independence  of 
hands  and  feet.  Bach  delighted  in  combining  the 
beautiful  with  the  educationally  helpful,  and  there  is 
little  doubt  that  the  series  of  sonatas  was  written  for 
Friedemann,  to  develop  his  powers  of  execution. 

In  adopting  the  Italian  violin  sonata  form  for  such 
purposes,  Bach  took  over  the  whole  panoply.  He  fol- 
lowed the  type  in  making  each  sonata  of  three  move- 
ments— the  first  and  last  quick  and  polyphonic,  and 
the  middle  slow  cantabile.  In  passing  it  may  be 
mentioned  that  the  slow  cantabile  style  upon  which 
he  laid  so  much  stress  is  amply  provided  for.  It  may 
seem  a  little  perplexing  that  he  not  only  took  over  the 
grouping  of  movements  and  the  name,  but  also  the 
Italian  style.  This  may  have  been  owing  to  his  ex- 
treme susceptibility  even  to  words,  so  that  the  Italian 
name  set  his  mind  going  in  an  Italian  style.  But  it 
may  also  have  been  the  much  more  subtle  reason  that, 
the  type  of  sonata  having  been  mainly  cultivated  by 
Italians,— and  that  with  distinguished  success,— the 
associations  of  the  particular  scheme  were  all  mainly 
Italian.  A  similar  peculiarity  is  noticeable  in  some 
of  the  sonatas  for  flute  and  clavier,  especially  one  in 
E  flat.  In  spite  of  the  Italian  flavour,  however,  the 
sonatas  present  a  polyphonic  texture  of  the  very  first 
quality,  and  there  are  few  works  of  Bach's  that  are 
more  delicately  poised  or  more  subtly  finished. 

Among  the  works  of  which  it  is  quite  hopeless  to 


502  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

attempt  a  chronology  are  the  vast  numbers  of  all  sorts 
of  movements  based  on  chorales  which  are  not  included 
in  any  collections.  Among  those  which  are  of  very  great 
interest  are  the  few  examples  which  remain  of  Bach's 
ways  of  accompanying  the  chorales  when  they  were 
sung  by  the  congregation.  It  is  well  known  that  it 
was  customary  for  the  organist  to  take  advantage  of 
the  pause  which  was  made  at  the  end  of  each  line  to 
put  in  some  decorous  flourishes  on  the  organ.  This  was 
certainly  done  for  the  most  part  extemporaneously, 
and  no  one  was  less  likely  than  Bach  to  require  to  put 
down  on  paper  what  he  would  do  on  such  every-day 
occasions. 

But  there  probably  were  occasions  when  he  would 
have  written  down  what  was  to  be  done  for  someone 
else's  benefit  (and  possibly  also  for  the  benefit  of  the 
congregation),  when  some  insufficiently  discreet  or 
experienced  performer  had  charge  of  the  accompani- 
ments. And  it  was  probably  for  such  occasions  that 
he  wrote  down  the  accompaniments  to  be  used  for  the 
chorales:  Allein  Gott  in  der  Hoh'  set  Ehr'  (B.  G.  XL. 
44),  Gelobet  seist  du  Jesii  Christ  (XL.  62),  Herr 
Jesu  Christ  dich  {u  uns  wend'  (XL.  72),  In  dulci  jtibilo 
(XL.  74),  Lobt  Gott,  ihr  Christen  all^iigleich  (XL. 
159),  Fom  Himmel  hoch  (ibid.).  These  are  all 
interesting  as  primitive  germs  of  the  Chorale-fantasia 
(see  p.  182) ;  they  are  still  more  interesting  as  recalling 
the  complaints  of  the  consistory  of  the  church  at  Arn- 
stadt  at  the  manner  in  which  Bach  in  these  early  days 
put  the  congregation  out  with  his  harmonies!  It  is 
quite  clear  that  the  congregation  sang  the  chorales  in 
unison,  as  Bach's  harmonies  in  these  cases  are  incredibly 
rich  and  unconventional,  and  quite  unsuited  to  vocal 


Works  for  Clavier  and  Organ      503 

performance  in  parts.  The  ornamental  passages  be- 
tween the  lines  are  quite  short,  and  in  most  cases  are 
confined  to  the  harmony  upon  which  the  previous 
phrase  closed.  In  some  cases  the  procedure  is  ampli- 
fied and  made  more  artistic  by  carrying  on  the  forms 
of  the  ornamental  passages  into  the  phrases  of  the 
chorale  which  follow  them,  thereby  softening  the 
lines  of  demarcation. 

As  there  are  more  than  a  hundred  works  on  chor- 
ales it  is  not  possible  to  consider  them  fully  in  detail. 
Moreover,  it  is  not  necessary,  as  a  good  many  of  these 
unattached  items  were  experiments,  by  which  Bach 
certainly  did  not  set  much  store,  for  most  of  those 
which  he  thought  worthy  of  consideration  he  brought 
together  at  various  times.  Still,  among  the  scattered 
items  there  are  some  of  fascinating  quality,  illustrating 
various  types  of  chorale  movements.  Of  the  type  of 
organ-chorales  which  were  little  more  than  arrange- 
ments (in  which  the  metrical  form  was  maintained), 
three  on  Liehster  Jesu  wir  sind  hier  and  one  on 
Her(lich  thut  mich  verlangen  are  most  attractive. 
The  last  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  its  kind,  being 
arranged  for  two  manuals  and  pedal  so  that  the  tune 
has  a  manual  to  itself,  and  is  adorned  with  subtle 
use  of  accessory  notes  through  which  it  is  broken 
up  into  short  phrases  which  were  evidently  meant  by 
Bach  to  express  the  "verlangen";  and  the  harmony 
subtly  ministers  to  the  tender  expression.  One  of 
the  three  on  Liehster  Jesu  is  treated  in  the  same 
way,  but  with  a  more  liberal  supply  of  ornament. 
The  other  two  are  simpler,  hardly  exceeding  the  limits 
of  the  ordinary  harmonisation  of  the  final  chorales  in 
the  cantatas.     Of  more  developed  type  are  the  move- 


504  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

ments  on  An  IVasserfliissen  Babylon  and  Wir 
glauhen  all  in  einen  Gott,  the  first  of  which  is  specially 
beautiful,  manifesting  some  of  the  qualities  of  the 
famous  Schniilcke  dich  to  be  considered  later.  Both 
are  in  five  parts  with  two  parts  for  the  pedals, 
and  a  solo  part  for  the  tune.  They  would  be  properly 
described  as  chorale-fantasias,  as  the  accompaniment 
wanders  on  as  if  reflecting  on  its  own  account,  and  the 
phrases  of  the  chorale  come  in  at  intervals,  just  as 
they  do  in  the  first  choruses  of  the  chorale-cantatas. 
In  passing  it  may  be  observed  that  the  pedals  are 
evidently  meant  to  be  restricted  to  stops  of  8  ft. 

Of  more  highly  organised  type  making  a  complete 
and  well  developed  movement  is  Wo  soil  ich  fliehen 
bin,  which  is  closely  knit  together  by  the  genial  little 
figure,  probably  suggested  by  the  word  "fliehen," 
which  is  reiterated  almost  incessantly  in  infinite  variety 
of  positions  throughout  with  the  chorale  in  the  bass. 
IVir  Christenleiit  is  a  delightful  example  of  similar  treat- 
ment. The  Vorspiel  on  Allein  Gott  in  der  Hob'  sei  Ehr, 
to  which  the  name  Bicinium  is  given,  is  only  in  two  parts, 
and  has  the  appearance  of  being  an  adaptation  of  a 
vocal  solo  with  cello-piccolo  accompaniment,  like  the 
Choral  vorspiel  from  the  cantata  Bleib'bei  uns  in  the 
" Schlibler'schen  Chorale"  (see  p.  536).  There  is  a 
quaint  waywardness  in  the  accompaniment  which  is 
fascinating.  Jesu  meine  Freude  is  highly  organised 
and  at  considerable  length,  in  two  portions.  The  first 
three  phrases  of  the  chorale  are  given  to  three  several 
parts  twice  over,  with  dainty  accompaniment,  in  f 
time.  Then  a  total  change  of  style  is  made  in  |  time, 
and  a  mysterious  allusion  to  a  phrase  in  one  of  the 
movements   of   the   motet   Jesu   meine   Freude    pre- 


Works  for  Clavier  and  Organ      505 

sents  itself,  from  which  emanates  a  peaceful  meditation 
marked  ''dolce"  in  which  the  remainder  of  the  tune 
disappears.  Ein  feste  Burg  is  treated  with  great 
elaboration  of  the  tune  with  copious  ornament.  In 
recalling  Buxtehude's  treatment  of  the  tune  and  Bach's 
own  treatment  in  the  great  cantata,  one  is  tempted  to 
think  that  some  convention  or  habit  of  mind  must  have 
grown  up  in  favour  of  ornamenting  it  in  such  a  manner. 
This  fantasia  is  a  fme  and  strenuous  example,  and  is 
liberally  marked  with  directions  for  registration  and 
changes  of  manuals.  There  are  two  beautiful  chorale 
fantasias  on  yalet  will  ich  dir  gehen,  both  on  a  large 
scale.  In  the  first  the  phrases  of  the  chorale  are  passed 
about  from  part  to  part  with  constant  network  of 
rapid  passages  woven  around  them,  while  the  bass 
solemnly  enunciates  the  tune.  The  second  is  in  ff 
time,  with  the  chorale  in  slow  notes  on  the  pedals, 
which  makes  the  tune  mysteriously  intangible.  Be- 
sides these  chorale  movements  there  are  three  beautiful 
and  interesting  sets  of  variations  or  "  Parti  en  '  on 
Christ  der  du  hist  der  helle  Tag,  0  Gott,  du  frommer  Gott, 
and  Sei  gegriisset,  Jesu  giltig.  They  have  an  air  of 
ingenuous  simplicity,  which  shows  without  doubt  that 
they  are  very  eady  compositions.  Spitta  even  argues 
that  they  were  written  at  Liineburg.  They  are  for 
the  most  part  groups  of  fantasias  on  the  chorale  tunes 
rather  than  variations  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  term. 
The  difficulty  of  dealing  with  the  chorale  movements, 
and  indeed  with  the  whole  field  of  Bach's  organ  works, 
lies  mainly  in  the  fact  that  Bach  attained  to  his  full 
height  comparatively  early  in  this  branch  of  art,  for 
reasons  which  have  been  dealt  with.  It  cannot  justly 
be  said  that  he  ever  advanced  beyond  the  standard  of 


5o6  Johann  vSebastian  Bach 

his  Weimar  compositions  in  that  branch  of  art.  The 
Fantasia  in  G  minor  which  probably  belongs  to  that 
time  (see  p.  69)  is  one  of  the  grandest  of  all  his  inspira- 
tions, and  the  well-known  fugues  in  G  minor,  D  major, 
and  A  minor  and  the  first  Toccata  in  D  minor  are  so 
masterly  in  construction,  so  full  of  fire  and  vitality,  and 
present  the  personality  of  the  composer  in  such  convinc- 
ing terms  that  it  is  vain  to  pretend  that  he  has  ever  ex- 
celled them;  and  the  chorale  prelude  0  Mensch, 
hewein  dein  Sunde  gross,  which  appeared  in  the 
'Tittle  organ  book,"  has  no  peer  in  the  whole  range 
of  his  compositions  of  that  kind.  The  period  when 
these  works  were  produced  is  analogous  to  Beetho- 
ven's so-called  second  period,  comprising  all  the 
works  from  about  Opus  50  to  Opus  90,  in  which  the 
full  fire  and  vitality  of  his  still  youthful  tempera- 
ment are  displayed.  For  with  men  of  such  unquench- 
able spirit  the  youth  of  temperament  often  lasts  a 
full  decade  and  more  after  the  physical  youth  is  ended. 
In  both  men  the  works  of  this  radiant  period  overflow 
into  the  latest  period.  So  a  man  who  would  judge  by 
intrinsic  qualities  is  at  fault.  It  can  only  be  said  that 
a  large  number  of  Bach's  finest  works  for  the  organ, 
the  dates  of  which  are  unascertainable,  may  have  been 
written  any  time  between  the  middle  of  his  period  at 
Weimar  and  the  end  of  the  first  decade  at  Leipzig. 
To  this  category  must  inevitably  be  relegated  the  one 
great  passacaglia  in  C  minor,  the  superb  toccata  in 
C  with  the  fugue  in  |  time,  the  prelude  and  fugue  in 
G  minor  (P.  T.  V.  I.,  802,  803),  and  even  the  great 
toccata  in  F  major. 

The  argum.ent  in  favour  of  the  Passacaglia  being  an 
early  work  is  that  it  is  written  quite  obviously  under 


Works  for  Clavier  and  Organ     507 

the  influence  of  Buxtehude,  who  in  that  form  mani- 
fested the  highest  flight  of  his  interesting  genius.i 
Buxtehude's  influence  upon  Bach  was  undoubtedly 
great  and  permanent,  but  it  must  evidently  have  been 
more  direct  and  conscious  in  the  early  Weimar  time, 
as  the  D  major  fugue  can  be  located  in  that  period, 
and  its  connection  with  Buxtehude's  fugue  in  F  is 
unmistakable.  The  passacaglia,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
resembles  many  other  great  experiments  by  Bach  in 
being  such  an  immense  expansion  of  Buxtehude's 
scheme.  Bach  divined  his  cue,  and  made  his  effect 
by  gradually  building  up  the  volume  of  tone  and  the 
enrichment  of  detail  from  the  quiet  opening  to 
the  sumptuous  splendour  of  the  closing  bars  of 
the  passacaglia;  and  he  makes  that  a  point  of  de- 
parture for  a  fugue  on  the  subject  of  the  ground  bass, 
for  which  there  is  an  obvious  aesthetic  justification. 
For  the  rigid  reiteration  of  a  formula  of  a  definite 
number  of  bars  in  length  (which  is  the  underlying  basis 
of  the  Passacaglia),  mduces  a  sense  of  mechanical  con- 
straint, and  in  order  to  make  the  scheme  complete  a 
passage  manifesting  freedom  of  range  is  most  desirable. 
Bach  found  this  most  aptly  in  the  fugue,  which  vastly 
enhances  the  principle  of  the  form.  As  the  experiment 
is  without  doubt  a  great  success,  it  is  rather  strange 
that  he  did  not  try  it  again. 

But  he  must  always  have  had  his  head  as  full  of  novel 
schemes  as  there  was  time  for  apart  from  his  official 
work  and  one  of  these  is  the  Toccata  in  C  (P.T.V.I.,  830) 

1  It  should  be  added  that  it  shows  also  the  influence  of 
Reinken ;  as  the  closing  bars  of  the  passacaglia  were  prob- 
ably suggested  by  bars  8  to  1 1  in  the  first  movement  of  the 
first  sonata  in  the  "  Hortus  Musicus." 


5o8  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

which  is  totally  unique  among  Bach's  organ  com- 
positions. The  impulse  that  prompted  it  was  related  to 
that  which  prompted  the  composition  of  the  splendid 
toccatas  for  the  clavier  in  F  sharp  minor  and  C  minor. 
They  manifest  the  like  peculiarity  of  being  broken  up 
into  contrasting  sections.  They  all  commence  with 
passages  of  bravura — which  sounds  unpromising, — but 
indeed  the  passages  which  Bach  modelled  in  that  style 
are  almost  sufficiently  interesting  to  redeem  a  branch 
of  art  which  has  been  more  piteously  discredited  than 
any  in  its  whole  range,  save  and  except  the  operatic 
aria.  The  bravura  passages  in  all  these  cases  are 
preliminaries  to  very  serious  and  noble  passages  of 
slow  and  expressive  character,  and  the  scheme  of  each 
is  rounded  off  by  a  long  and  extensively  developed 
fugue. 

The  distinguishing  features  of  the  organ  Toccata 
in  C  are  that  the  effect  of  sectional  contrast  is  so  amply 
displayed,  and  that  one  of  its  four  sections  is  unique 
among  Bach's  organ  works.  This  section  occupies 
the  exact  position  which  the  nobly  expressive 
adagio  in  |  time  does  in  the  F  sharp  minor  toccata, 
and  the  parallel  adagio  in  the  C  minor  toccata,  and 
even  similar  features  in  the  early  clavier  toccata  in  D 
minor,  and  others  too  numerous  to  recapitulate.  But 
in  the  organ  Toccata  the  slow  passage  is  a  beautiful 
song  movement,  the  long  rhapsodical  ornate  melody  of 
which  recalls  the  slow  movements  for  violin  in  which 
Bach  poured  out  his  soul  so  freely.  It  also  resembles 
more  completely  the  slow  movement  of  the  Italian 
Concerto,  which,  by  a  charming  and  serviceable  coin- 
cidence, presents  a  characteristic  parallel  in  its  ac- 
companiment to  the  constantly  moving  quasi-pizzicato 


Works  for  Clavier  and  Organ      509 

quaver-figure  for  the  pedals  in  the  Organ  Toccata. 
The  beautiful  air  ends  with  short  transition  through 
one  of  the  typical  passages  of  truly  tremendous 
suspensions  which  are  so  ideally  fitted  for  the 
organ  to  display  its  remorseless  persistence  of  tone, 
into  the  singularly  gay  and  genial  fugue  which  consti- 
tutes the  finale.  The  composition  reaches  out  its 
tentacles  in  all  directions.  If  the  songlike  movement 
associates  it  with  works  of  the  latest  period,  the  special 
interpretation  of  the  toccata  scheme  links  it  to  works 
of  an  early  period.  It  is  in  every  aspect  supremely 
interesting  and  brilliantly  effective. 

The  contrast  which  this  work  presents  to  the  great 
Toccata  with  Fugue  in  F  is  too  marked  to  be  passed 
by  without  notice.  For  that  is  on  quite  a  different 
scheme  from  those  above  referred  to;  being  continuous 
from  end  to  end.  The  spaciousness  of  its  development 
suggests  comparatively  late  production,  and  this  in- 
ference is  strengthened  by  its  conclusion,  which  is  one 
of  the  most  overwhelmingly  powerful  passages  Bach 
ever  wrote.  The  fugue,  as  has  been  before  said,  is 
probably  an  addition  belonging  to  a  different  period. 
It  is  quite  overwhelmed  by  the  toccata,  and  seems 
almost  superfluous  (seep.  71). 

The  only  organ  works  which  are  referred  with  any 
confidence  to  the  latest  period  of  Bach's  life  are  the 
Preludes  and  Fugues  in  C  (P.  T.  V.  I.,  804,  805),  E 
minor  (P.T.V.I.,  808,  809),  and  B  minor  (P.T.V.I.,  810, 
811),  together  with  the  Fugue  in  E  flat  which  has  been 
discussed  in  connection  with  the  Clavieriibung  in  which 
it  appeared.  The  elements  of  brilliant  effect  which 
are  manifested  in  works  of  the  Weimar  period  are 
more  or  less  in  abeyance,  but  preludes  and  fugues  alike 


5IO  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

give  the  impression  of  superb  workmanship  and  serious- 
ness. The  prelude  in  C  presents  a  continuous  discourse 
between  the  three  parts  allotted  to  the  hands,  passing 
through  a  dignified  circuit  of  keys  and  effectively 
punctuated  by  a  decisive  figure  for  the  pedals 


Pi 


&. 


^3 


which  recurs  at  intervals,  as  if  commenting  on  the 
discourse  of  the  manuals.  The  fugue  is  in  five  parts, 
but  the  fifth  part,  which  is  given  to  the  pedals,  does 
not  enter  till  near  the  end  of  the  fugue,  when  it 
enunciates  an  augmentation  of  the  subject— a  pro- 
cedure which  is  very  impressive.  Prelude  and  fugue 
are  closely  allied  in  style,  and  have  a  singular  concur- 
rence in  the  fact  that  in  both  of  them  the  closing 
passage  is  preceded  by  a  succession  of  striking  har- 
monies, which  stands  out  powerfully  from  the  context. 
The  purpose  is  kindred  to  the  device  commented  on 
in  connection  with  the  fugue  in  A  minor  of  the  second 
series  of  the  ''Wohltemperirtes  Clavier"   (p.  492). 

The  prelude  in  E  minor  is  of  a  solid  and  business- 
like type  of  which  Bach  made  frequent  use.  The  basis 
of  the  thematic  scheme  is  mainly  the  alternation  of 
two  distinct  subjects  distributed  in  a  broad  circuit  of 
contrasting  keys.  It  is  close  in  texture  and  in  loyalty 
to  its  thematic  material,  and  imposing  in  its  scale  of 
development.  The  fugue,  on  the  other  hand,  which 
is  the  longest  Bach  ever  wrote  for  the  organ,  is  singu- 
larly loose  in  structure.  All  the  central  portion  has 
the  character  of  a  fantasia,  in  which  episodes  of  purely 
independent    and    irrelevant    material,    rather    like 


Works  for  Clavier  and  Organ      511 

cadenzas,  alternate  with  short  references  to  the  subject. 
Bach  clearly  had  some  intention  in  this  unfugal  pro- 
cedure, which  is  also  met  with  in  some  others  of  his 
grand  fugues.  The  problem  is  a  subtle  one,  as  in  this 
case  he  certainly  combines  two  different  styles.  It 
can  only  be  said  that  he  evidently  aimed  at  relieving 
the  extreme  insistence  on  the  striking  subject,  and 
that,  in  the  frame  of  mind  which  happened  to  prevail 
when  he  was  writing  the  fugue,  the  effect  of  purely 
decorative  passages  alternating  with  the  fugal  passages 
pleased  him,  and  the  leaven  of  boyishness  which  still 
clung  to  him  in  advanced  age  made  him  repeat  the 
process  again  and  again.  Whichever  way  the  ultimate 
verdict  tends,  there  is  no  doubt  that,  after  such  pro- 
cedure, consolidation  is  an  urgent  desideratum;  and 
he  attained  it  by  repeating  a  long  portion  of  the  be- 
ginning of  the  fugue^no  less,  indeed,  than  fifty-nine 
bars— at  the  end,  a  procedure  that  has  the  same  basis 
as  the  Aria  form. 

The  great  prelude  and  fugue  in  B  minor  may  be  the 
last  which  Bach  ever  wrote  for  the  organ.  The  group 
is  unlike  any  of  his  other  organ  works  in  the  unmistak- 
able sentiment  of  supremely  noble  and  dignified  melan- 
choly which  suffuses  both  movements.  The  prelude 
is  superbly  rich  in  texture,  laid  out  on  broad  and 
grand  lines,  and  illustrates  Bach's  methods  in  the 
rhapsodical  type  of  movements  by  the  alternation  of 
ornate  melody  with  progressions  of  massive  harmony, 
which  in  this  case  are  not  presented  in  their  bare  sim- 
plicity, like  the  familiar  elemental  successions  of  sus- 
pensions, but  decked  with  all  the  richest  interest  of 
figuration.  It  is,  in  fact,  the  order  of  tonality  in  which 
these  imposing  passages  present  themselves  in  connec- 


512  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

tion  with  cadences  of  first  importance  which  gives  the 
clue  to  the  design  of  the  movement. 

The  fugue  with  its  solemn,  rolling  subject  clearly 
has  some  deep  meaning.  It  seems  to  suggest  a  deep 
temperamental  meditation  on  the  remorselessness  of 
destiny,  and  the  helplessness  of  man  in  the  face  of  it. 
The  strange  little  ejaculations  which  are  introduced  as 
characteristic  traits  in  the  latter  part  of  the  fugue 
seem  to  represent  gestures  of  acquiescence,  especially 
when  they  come  in  with  the  pedals  near  the  end. 


mm. 


^^=§=£5=1=1 


=z£=t 


As  an  illustration  of  the  continuity  of  Bach's  mental 
activities  it  may  be  pointed  out  that  there  is  a  dim 
kinship  between  the  subject  of  the  fugue  and  the 
subject  of  the  fugue  conjoined  with  the  well-known 
early  Toccata  in  D  minor  (see  p.  64).  The  whole  work 
is  developed  on  grand  lines  and  in  the  serious  spirit 
characteristic  of  his  latest  period,  and  confirms  to  the 
last  the  presence  of  a  great  human  soul  expressing  itself 
in  the  full  mastery  of  artistic  resources. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE    "  MUSIKALISCHES    OFFERS'  AND    THE  "  KUNST    DER 
FUGE'' 

Bach  is  identified  with  several  forms  and  types  of 
art  by  the  singular  fact  that  he  produced  incomparably 
the  fmest  examples  ever  achieved  by  man  in  their  vari- 
ous orders.  He  produced  the  fmest  suites,  the  fmest 
organ  music,  the  fmest  church  cantatas,  the  fmest  solo 
violin  music,  the  fmest  choral  motets,  the  fmest 
chorale-preludes,  and  the  fmest  "Passions."  But  with 
none  of  these  forms  is  he  more  intimately  associated 
than  with  the  fugue  and  its  close  relations.  It  was  the 
form  in  which  he  expressed  himself  most  readily  and 
most  characteristically,  and  the  form  to  which  he  gave 
a  special  kind  of  life,  the  possibilities  of  which  were 
unsuspected  until  his  time.  Two  of  his  very  latest 
works  seem  therefore  apt  even  to  quaintness,  for  they 
frankly  present,  with  little  sesthetical  circumlocution, 
the  methods  of  his  fugal  procedure.  It  is  as  though, 
having  completed  all  his  wonderful  achievements  in 
that  form,  he  set  himself  to  make  a  fmal  exposition 
of  his  artistic  creed,  and  to  offer  to  the  world  some 
examples  of  pure  fugal  construction  which  would  define 
and  make  plain  the  lines  on  which  he  had  proceeded  in 
making  his  works  of  art.  The  two  works,  which  hang 
33  513 


SU  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

together  by  community  of  principle,  are  the  "Musi- 
kalisches  Opfer"  and  the  "  Kunst  der  Fuge. " 

The  first  of  these  two  is  connected  with  Bach's  visit 
to  Frederick  the  Great  at  Potsdam,  which  is  one 
of  the  most  famiHar  episodes  in  his  personal  history, 
to  which  it  is  therefore  necessary  to  give  a  little 
attention.  The  quiet  tenor  and  persistent  work  of 
Bach's  life  at  Leipzig  are  apt  to  convey  the  impression 
that  he  never  moved  therefrom.  But  as  a  matter  of 
fact  he  made  a  good  many  journeys  and  tours  in  the 
north  of  Germany,  both  officially  and  of  his  own  choice. 
He  was,  among  other  things.  Kapellmeister  at  Weissen- 
fels  and  went  there  occasionally;  and  he  maintained  also 
his  connection  with  Cothen.  Dresden  also  frequently 
attracted  him,  for  there,  since  1733,  his  eldest  son 
Friedemann  had  been  organist  at  the  Sophien-Kirche, 
and  there  also  was  a  famous  and  well  equipped  opera 
establishment,  and  Bach's  enquiring  mind  led  him  to 
attend  the  performances  and  to  see  friends,  among 
whom  the  opera  composer  Hasse  and  his  v/ife  Faustina 
were  included.  His  fame  as  a  performer  was  un- 
doubtedly great,  and  he  was  called  upon  to  display  his 
powers  in  other  places  besides  Leipzig.  So  the  impres- 
sion of  confinement  in  one  place  by  ceaseless  labour 
must  be  qualified  by  the  recognition  of  occasional  dis- 
tractions. It  happened  that  his  son  Philipp  Emanuel 
had  been  appointed  Kapellmeister  in  Frederick  the 
Great's  musical  establishment  in  1740,  and  that  with 
him  were  many  musicians  who  had  friendly  relations 
with  John  Sebastian.  So  it  came  about  that  the  great 
Frederick  was  moved  by  interest  or  curiosity  to  see  and 
hear  him,  and  he  was  ultimately  induced  to  visit  Pots- 
dam in  1747.     The  King,  when  not  engaged  in  affairs  ot 


**  Musikalisches  Opfer  "  515 

state  or  leading  his  armies  in  battle,  usually  had  a  little 
domestic  concert  in  the  evening,  when  he  himself  played 
the  flute.  Bach  arrived  just  when  one  of  these  functions 
was  beginning,  and  Frederick  seems  to  have  been  so  eager 
to  see  him  that  he  insisted  upon  his  being  fetched  at 
once  in  his  ordinary  dress  with  all  the  marks  of  travel 
still  upon  him.  However,  he  was  not  then  called 
upon  to  perform,  but  was  allowed  to  defer  the  mani- 
festation of  his  powers  till  the  next  evening.  The 
King  himself  gave  Bach  a  subject  on  which  to  extem- 
porise; but  as  he  was  most  anxious  to  hear  Bach 
extemporise  a  fugue  in  six  parts,  in  view  of  the  difficulty 
of  the  feat,  Bach  is  said  to  have  supplied  his  own  sub- 
ject for  that  particular  exhibition.  But  in  the  "  Musik- 
alisches Opfer,"  presently  to  be  discussed,  which  puts  on 
record  various  treatments,  fugal  and  otherwise,  of  the 
King's  excellent  "theme,"  the  six-part  fugue  is  on  the 
same  subject  as  the  other  works.  It  is  true  that  Bach, 
as  a  compliment,  may  have  specially  written  a  six-part 
fugue  on  the  King's  subject,  but  in  that  case  he  would 
most  probably  have  made  some  allusion  to  it  in  the 
letter  he  sent  to  the  King  with  the  completed  work, 
and  as  will  be  seen  (p.  520)  there  is  not  the  slightest  hint 
of  anything  of  the  kind.  So  on  the  whole  the  pre- 
ponderance of  evidence  is  in  favour  of  Bach's  having 
extemporised  both  fugues  on  the  King's  subject. 

How  Bach  tried  the  Silbermann  pianofortes  and 
played  on  the  organ  at  Potsdam  and  visited  the  opera 
house  at  Berlin  are  all  matters  of  secondary  interest. 
The  important  matter  in  connection  with  this  visit 
to  the  King  is  that  it  led  to  the  production  of  the 
*' Musikalisches  Opfer,"  one  of  his  very  latest  composi- 
tions; in  which,  as  a  compliment  to  the  King,  he  settled 


Si6  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

down  seriously  to  write  fugues  and  canons  and  other 
examples  of  artistic  forms  based  (with  one  exception) 
on  the  subject  which  the  King  had  given  him.  The 
work  is  not  of  very  great  musical  interest,  but  its 
general  interest  in  connection  with  the  personality  of 
the  composer  is  supreme.  It  is  almost  as  if  one  could 
read  between  the  lines  the  workings  of  Bach's  mindl 
He  possibly  overrated  the  powers  of  the  King  for 
remembering  the  details  of  the  extemporisations, 
and  therefore  reproduced  more  faithfully  than  he 
need  have  done  passages  which  he  would  not  have 
passed  as  adequate  in  a  deliberately  written  com- 
position. There  are  points  which  stand  out  unmis- 
takably. It  is  evident,  in  the  first  place,  that  Bach, 
like  other  extemporisers,  had  some  fixed  schemes  in 
his  mind  upon  which  extemporisations  could  be 
carried  out — schemes  rather  more  formal  and  conven- 
tional than  he  would  use  in  seriously  composing  a 
fugue,  but  at  the  same  time  embodying  essential 
principles:  such  broad  outlines  as  the  succession  of 
diiferent  keys,  the  alternation  of  passages  in  which  the 
subject  is  prominent  with  episodes  in  which  the  subject 
is  absent  except  in  the  shape  of  fragmentary  allusions. 
It  may  be  seen  also  that  Bach  had  such  things  always 
at  hand  as  certain  harmonic  progressions,  groups  of 
suspensions,  even  phrases  and  formulas  which  could 
be  used  at  special  points  in  the  process,  just  as  practical 
extempore  speakers  have  certain  useful  phrases  and 
elocutionary  devices  always  ready  to  help  out  their 
impromptus. 

The  two  most  important  movements,  which  with  the 
highest  degree  of  probability  may  be  taken  as  repre- 
senting what  he  actually  extemporised  before   King 


"  Musikalisches  Opfer  "  517 

Frederick,  are  the  fugue  in  three  parts,  and  the  fugue 
in  six  parts.  They  may  be  said  at  once  not  to  trespass 
at  all  in  the  direction  of  what  is  called  fugal  science. 
There  is  no  stretto  in  either  of  them.  The  three-part 
fugue  is  naturally  the  one  in  which  the  subject  is  most 
frequently  and  variably  presented;  but  it  is  subtly 
suggestive  of  the  convenience  of  the  extemporiser 
that  the  episodes  in  which  the  subject  does  not  appear 
in  its  entirety  are  extremely  long,  and  often  contain 
purely  conventional  passages,  such  as  Bach  might  have 
had  always  in  mind  for  an  emergency,  and  even 
passages  of  arpeggios  which  are  quite  irrelevant  and 
unfugal.  It  is  further  to  be  noted  that  in  the  first 
exposition  a  show  is  made  of  presenting  a  definite 
counter  subject,  but  it  is  entirely  dropped  in  the  middle 
part  of  the  fugue,  and  only  makes  its  reappearance  in 
the  latter  part  of  it,  where  it  is  brought  back  and  used 
in  canonic  imitation  to  save  the  situation,  and  also  to 
present  the  effect  of  rounding  off  the  fugue  by  giving 
the  beginning  and  end  some  community  of  feature.  For 
the  rest  the  subject  only  occurs  completely  seven  times 
in  the  whole  course  of  the  fugue  after  the  exposition,  and 
of  these  recurrences  only  two  are  in  an  inner  part.  These 
circumstances,  together  with  the  fact  that  Bach  once 
slips  into  a  reminiscence  of  the  D  minor  fugue  in  the 
second  book  of  the  "  Wohltemperirtes  Clavier"  (No.  6), 
all  point  to  the  record  being  as  loyal  a  presentation 
from  memory  as  he  could  recall  of  the  actual  movement 
extemporised.  For  the  rest  the  work  represents  his 
typical  readiness  to  base  the  interest  of  the  fugue 
on  other  considerations  than  that  of  the  principal 
subject,  which  is  the  more  striking  in  view  of  the 
fact  that   the   King  might  have  been  more  flattered 


51 8  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

if    it    had    been    introduced    in    season   and  out  of 
season. 

The  same  feature  is  noticeable  in  the  six-part  fugue, 
for  in  that  case  the  subject  is  not  made  much  of  or 
subjected  to  any  great  variety  of  presentment  and 
combination.  The  distribution  of  its  recurrences  is 
so  far  systematic  that  it  is  given  but  once  by  each  part 
in  the  course  of  the  fugue  after  the  exposition,  and 
the  order  in  which  each  part  is  favoured  is  based  on 
logical  principles.  The  use  of  thematic  material  is 
not  at  all  close.  New  secondary  subjects  are  intro- 
duced in  each  episode,  and  after  being  subjected  to 
some  little  development  are  dropped  and  succeeded 
by  further  departures.  And  it  is  worthy  of  note  that 
a  reminiscent  figure  from  the  A  flat  fugue  in  the  second 
collection  of  the  ''Wohltemperirtes  Clavier"  serves, 
in  combination  with  a  fragment  from  the  King's  sub- 
ject, as  the  thematic  basis  of  the  last  episode  in  the 
fugue.  The  main  object  of  the  work  seems  really  to 
be  to  present  a  fine  example  of  six-part  work,  without 
laying  much  stress  on  thematic  development.  The 
style  is  more  strict  and  plain  than  in  most  of  Bach's 
composed  fugues,  and  does  not  really  suggest  neces- 
sary association  with  any  special  instrument  or  group 
of  instruments.  It  might  therefore  be  called  an 
abstract  fugue,  and  invites  the  same  inferences  as 
the  three-part  fugue,  one  of  which  is  that  Bach  had 
developed  the  degree  of  mastery  which  enabled  him 
always  to  produce  work  which  was  solid  in  sound  and 
dignified  in  style,  but  that  conditions  favourable  to 
concentration  of  attention  and  isolation  from  distrac- 
tions were  necessary  to  the  production  of  music  fully 
characteristic  of  his  artistic  personality. 


*' Musikalisches  Opfer"  519 

It  should  be  observed  that  Bach  did  not  himself 
give  the  name  of  Fugue  to  either  of  these  works,  but  the 
more  ancient  name  of  Ricercar.  This  title,  which  is  fre- 
quently met  with  in  the  instrumental  works  of  com- 
posers from  the  latter  end  of  the  sixteenth  till  far  on 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  represented  the  form 
which  was  the  immediate  forerunner  of  the  fugue,  and 
attained  at  times,  before  it  dropped  out  of  usage,  to  its 
full  lineaments.  Bach  clearly  used  the  title  because  the 
letters  served  as  the  initials  of  a  series  of  words  which 
he  gave  as  the  title  of  the  work,  "Regis  Jussu  Cantio 
et  Reliqua  Canonica  Arte  Resoluta."  The  quaint 
symbolism  is  highly  characteristic! 

In  some  ways  the  sonata  (probably  for  flute,  violin, 
and  continuo)  which  is  comprised  in  "  Das  Musikalische 
Opfer"  is  more  essentially  musical  than  either  of  the 
fugues  or  ricercars.  But  in  this  case  it  is  quite  obvious 
that  Bach  was  not  trying  to  put  an  extemporised  work 
on  record,  but  composed  the  sonata  specially,  on  sub- 
jects derived  (with  copious  variations)  from  the  subject 
given  him  by  the  King.  The  work  is  on  the  usual  lines 
of  the  typical  Italian  violin  sonata,  and  is  rather 
Italian  in  style,  comprising  an  introductory  slow 
movement,  a  long  allegro,  an  expressive  central  slow 
movement,  and  a  lively  fmale.  It  would  not  be  expec- 
ted that  a  work  based  on  subjects  which  are  not  entirely 
of  the  composer's  own  initiation  would  attain  the 
highest  level  of  interest,  but  both  the  slow  movements 
are  beautiful  pieces  of  work,  full  of  delicate  and  inter- 
esting details,  and  the  quick  movements  are  developed 
in  a  most  brilliant  manner.  Bach  completed  the 
compliment  of  the  "Musikalisches  Opfer,''  by  adding 
a   considerable   number   of   canons   on    the    ''thema 


520  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

regium,"  including  a  "canon  perpetuus"  for  two  parts 
by  inversion  with  free  bass,  and  a  ''fuga  canonica," 
which  are  mainly  examples  of  the  almost  incredible 
facility  which  he  had  attained  in  technical  feats  of 
this  kind. 

The  letter  offering  the  work  to  the  King  was  dated 
July  7,  1747. 


To  your  Majesty  I  dedicate  herewith  in  deepest  humility 
a  Musical  Offering,  the  noblest  part  of  which  your  own  exalted 
hand  supplied.  With  respectful  pleasure  I  remember  the 
altogether  special  royal  consideration  which  I  experienced 
at  the  time  of  my  visit  to  Potsdam.  Your  Majesty  yourself 
deigned  to  play  to  me  the  theme  of  a  fugue  on  the  clavier, 
and  at  the  same  time  in  a  most  gracious  manner  laid  it  upon 
me  to  develop  the  same  in  your  Majesty's  gracious  presence. 
To  obey  your  Majesty's  command  was  my  humble  duty.  But  I 
soon  remarked  that  owing  to  lack  of  necessary  preparation  the 
development  was  not  so  complete  or  so  noble  as  the  theme 
demanded.  I  resolved  and  hastened  to  work  out  the  right 
royal  theme  more  fully  and  to  make  it  known  to  the 
world.  This  resolve  has  now  been  accomplished  to  the  best 
of  my  powers,  and  it  has  no  other  object  than  the  blameless 
one  of  enhancing  in  a  small  point  the  fame  of  a  monarch  whose 
greatness  and  strength  in  all  the  arts  of  war  and  peace,  es- 
pecially in  music,  everyone  must  admire  and  honour.  I  am 
bold  enough  to  make  this  humble  request,  that  your  Majesty 
will  deign  to  honour  the  present  small  work  with  your  gracious 
acceptance,  and  grant  your  favour  to  your  Majesty's  obedient 
and  most  humble  servant,  the  Author. 

It  is  inevitable  that  the  work  known  as  the  ''Kunst 
der  Fuge"  should  be  coupled  with  the  ''Musikalisches 
Opfer,"  owing  to  the  rare  peculiarity  which  they  have 
in  common  of  consisting  of  a  series  of  movements  all 
based  on  the  same  subject.     Indeed,  with  due  recogni- 


''  Kunst  der  Fuge  "  521 

tion  of  the  general  futility  of  surmises,  it  is  in  a  high 
degree  probable  that  the  later  work  was  a  consequence 
of  the  former.  Since,  having  given  a  practical  exposi- 
tion of  what  could  be  done  in  such  a  series  of  movements 
with  a  subject  given  by  the  King,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
King,  it  was  natural  to  look  for  what  could  be  done  in 
like  manner  with  a  subject  of  the  composer's  own,  for 
the  benefit  of  musicians  in  general. 

The  second  work  is  on  a  much  larger  scale  than  the 
first  and  covers  more  ground,  and  covers  it  also  more 
systematically;  the  earlier  fugues  being  simple  and 
devoid  of  any  very  elaborate  contrivances,  while  the 
complexity  of  the  strettos  and  the  more  copious  reitera- 
tion of  subjects  increase  as  the  movements  go  on. 
For  such  special  objects  a  special  type  of  subject  was 
needed,  and  it  must  be  granted  that  the  subject  in  its 
first  form,  as  it  appears  in  the  first  two  fugues,  is  little 
more  than  a  framework  in  vocal  style,  and  has  very 
little  musical  interest  or  character  at  all. 


The  first  fugue  is  mainly  a  study  in  simple  contra- 
puntal style,  and,  Hke  the  fugues  in  the  "Musikal- 
isches  Opfer,"  only  presents  the  subject  a  few  times, 
without  any  stretto  or  manipulations  of  counter- 
subjects.  The  second  is  a  good  deal  more  vivacious, 
having  a  preponderance  of  trochaic  rhythm  in  the  ac- 
companying parts;  but  still  there  is  little  elaboration 
in  the  use  of  the  subject.  Things  get  more  com- 
plicated in  the  third  and  fourth  fugues,  which  are  both 
of  them  on  an  inversion  of  the  subject. 


52  2  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 


i 


w 


^ 


1^3- 


:=i; 


-■=r- 


In  the  third  the  subject  appears  in  the  latter  part  in 
a  form  of  variation  which  is  used  as  the  initial  subject 
in  some  of  the  later  fugues, 


.-J-.—- A-J- 


^T-€- 


and  in  the  fourth  the  subject  is  much  more  in  evidence 
and  is  presented  in  more  interesting  lights,  while  the 
groundwork  is  ingeniously  woven  out  of  an  insignificant 
germ  of  four,  notes  which  characterises  the  quasi 
counter-subject.  The  fifth  fugue  is  on  the  variation 
of  the  subject  which  appears  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
third  fugue,  thus  establishing  a  point  of  progressive 
coherence  between  the  numbers.  The  exposition, 
moreover,  is  elaborated  by  the  answers  being  given 
alternately  in  the  inverted  form  and  the  original  form 
of  the  subject,  and  there  are  several  strettos,  some 
of  them  very  close.  The  sixth  fugue  is  described  as 
''in  stile  Francese,"  which  seems  mainly  to  imply  a 
considerable  prominence  of  dotted  and  short  notes, 
again  entailing  a  good  deal  of  trochaic  rhythm.  The 
third-fugue  variation  of  the  subject  is  adopted  and 
is  answered  by  inversion  in  diminution.  The  style 
becomes  more  instrumental  and  the  interest  richer. 
Besides  ordinary  strettos  there  are  strettos  by  aug- 
mentation, which  are  rendered  the  more  effective 
by  the  liveliness  of  contrast  between  the  trochaic 
metre  of  the  accompaniments  and  the  long  notes  of 
the  augmented  subject.     The  general  result  of  ampli- 


**Kunst  der  Fu^^e"  523 


fied  interest  and  expansion  is  to  make  this  fugue  appear 
to  be  a  point  of  climax  in  ttie  gradual  growth  of  the 
work;  and  this  effect  was  recognised  and  possibly 
intended  by  the  composer,  for  the  seventh  fugue  comes 
as  a  kind  of  extension  or  offshoot  therefrom,  as  it  is 
on  the  same  form  of  the  subject,  which  is  answered 
at  the  same  pitch,  thereby  calling  the  attention  of  the 
observant  hearer  to  the  connection  between  the  two 
movements.  From  that  point  the  movement  is  so 
crowded  with  allusions  to  the  subject  in  diminution, 
inversion,  double  diminution,  and  triple  diminution 
in  variation,  augmentation  direct,  double  augmentation 
in  strettos,  and  canonic  imitation  in  every  conceivable 
kind,  that  it  is  obvious  that  the  composer  means  to 
take  leave  of  the  subject  for  a  while  when  he  has  tied 
the  knot  at  the  end. 

This  proves  indeed  to  be  the  case,  for  the  eighth 
fugue  leads  off  with  an  entirely  new  subject,  a  subject 
also  which  has  much  more  musical  significance  than 
the  original  subject  of  the  series: 


^^EgE^EE^EESEg 


Moreover  after  this  subject  has  been  worked  for  a 
while,  yet  another  characteristic  subject 


is  introduced,  and  the  two  are  worked  together  in  a 
great  variety  of  positions  of  double  counterpoint,  and 
the  proceedings  culminate  in  interest  towards  the  end 


52  4  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

of  the  fugue,  when  the  original  subject  of  the  series 
again  makes  its  appearance  in  a  new  and  pathetic 
variation : 


:2^:^-^          i 

F=^=^=t 

f7r=^=n 

~v — IN  1 

*#=*          ^  ,    • 

r*^t3Z3_ 

^-'-^ 

which  is  more  apt  to  the  somewhat  sad  expression  of 
the  two  new  subjects  through  being  broken  up  into 
short  phrases.  The  three  subjects  are  happily  inter- 
twined in  all  manner  of  interesting  combinations, 
thereby  establishing  a  set  of  fresh  starting-points  for 
the  second  part  of  the  series.  The  ninth  fugue  is 
in  a  new  and  lively  vein,  with  a  vivacious  new  sub- 
ject, quite  instrumental  in  style,  to  which,  after  a 
while,  the  original  subject  is  added  in  augmented  form, 
working  out  a  complete  exposition  in  which  the 
contrast  of  the  long  notes  with  the  vivacity  of  the 
quick  notes  of  the  actual  subject  of  the  fugue  is 
highly  effective.  The  tenth  fugue  presents  an  enigma 
which  is  almost  insoluble,  as  it  begins  with  a 
pathetic  new  subject,  which,  after  being  worked  at 
some  length,  is  displaced  by  a  complete  exposition 
based  on  the  third-fugue  variation  of  the  original 
subject,  which  is  interwoven  with  it.  But  from 
the  point  where  this  enters,  the  fugue,  for  the  rest 
of  its  course,  is  the  sam.e  as  the  fourteenth  fugue, 
which  thus  only  differs  from  it  by  being  devoid  of  the 
exposition  of  the  new  subject  at  the  beginning.  It  is 
quite  inconceivable  that  Bach  meant  to  have  both  these 
fugues  in  the  series,  and  their  being  so  is  obviously  owing 
to  the  fact  that  he  did  not  live  to  complete  and  revise 
the  work,  and  that  no  one  knew  what  he  intended 
with  regard  to  them. 


**  Kunst  der  Fuge  *'  525 

The  fugue  which  stands  as  No.  11  is  of  great  and 
salient  interest,  standing  with  fugue  No.  8  by  reason 
of  much  higher  musical  interest  thah  the  rest  of  the 
series.  In  most  of  the  other  fugues  Bach  either  deter- 
mined to  restrain  himself  from  the  use  of  beautiful  and 
characteristic  ideas,  and  to  write  as  mechanically  as 
his  habits  allowed,  or  else  he  was  quite  out  of  his 
wonted  musical  humour.  But  here  the  native  impulse 
was  too  much  for  him  and  the  fugue  No.  1 1  is  worthy 
to  stand  beside  the  fugues  in  the  ''Wohltemperirtes 
Clavier"  for  spaciousness  of  development,  depth  and 
consistency  of  expression,  and  constant  growth  of 
interest  from  first  to  last.  From  the  point  of  view  of 
mere  technical  ingenuity  it  is  most  attractive.  The  in- 
itial subject  is  the  inversion  of  the  broken  form  of  the 
principal  subject  of  the  whole  series  as  it  appears  in  the 
latter  part  of  fugue  No.  8.  To  it  is  added  after  a  time 
the  initial  subject  of  that  same  fugue  in  inverted  form, 
with  a  new  chromatic  kind  of  counter-subject.  And 
then  by  degrees,  as  the  wealth  of  artistic  contrivance 
is  increased,  the  second  subject  of  No.  8  makes  its 
appearance  in  various  forms  of  inversion  and  variation, 
and  from  that  time  forward  in  the  whole  of  the  rest  of 
the  fugue  (which  is  long)  there  is  hardly  a  bar  which  is 
irrelevant;  for  every  moment  is  used  in  presenting  the 
four  subjects  in  every  kind  of  juxtaposition  and  com- 
bination, but  always  maintaining  a  noble  and  tender 
colour  and  a  rather  pathetic  vein  of  sentiment.  The 
richness  and  consistency  of  the  texture  throughout  are 
as  wonderful  as  they  are  spontaneous,  and  even  where 
the  three  subjects  occur  simultaneously  the  uninitiated 
would  perceive  only  a  singularly  beautiful  piece  of 
expressive  music. 


5^6  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 


It  may  fairly  be  supposed  that  the  remaining  fugues 
were  a  kind  of  distraction,  for  the  points  that  they  illus- 
trate have  no  bearing  on  practical  artistic  or  aesthetic 
principles.  Fugue  No.  12  is  written  on  the  original 
subject  inverted  in  f  time  and  with  it  is  presented  a 

J- 


■K^ 


a^^l 


u=4=^. 


I 


I  '  I  I  I  I 


=r^fc=4 


■.■s=± 


^^ 


I 


H 


■^E^ 


S5^5±^ 


-/      ^ 


-&- 


:^-^=^ 
^-J. 


m 


9=^^'=r-^=f- 


feEE^E^EfE?^ 


:=i: 


r    r 


-2?-v 


l.^f^^^|g 


*'  Kunst  der  Fuge  "  527 

version  in  which  everything  is  turned  upside  down,i 
even  to  the  very  turn  in  the  cadence  at  the  end.  The 
least  hint  of  the  exposition  will  serve  as  an  illustration 
of  the  procedure.  (See  opposite  page.)  The  same  is 
the  case  with  the  lively  fugue  No.  13  on  a  variation  of 
the  subject.  Bach  possibly  wrote  them  just  to  see  if  it 
could  be  done;  he  certainly  would  not  have  classed  them 
as  musical  works  unless  as  extremely  abstruse  jokes. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  several  of  the  canons  which 
follow  the  fugues.  The  ingenuity  of  the  scheme  and 
the  perfect  facility  and  dexterity  of  the  execution  of 
the  first  verges  upon  the  absurd!  The  upper  part 
begins  with  a  variation  of  the  subject  of  the  fugues  in 
quick  notes,  and  the  lower  part  answers  by  inversion 
in  notes  of  double  the  length.  This  sounds  ingenious 
enough,  but  it  is  not  nearly  so  ingenious  as  the  manner 
in  which  the  anomalies  of  the  procedure  are  accommo- 
dated. It  is  a  case  of  the  hare  and  the  tortoise  without 
the  hare's  mistakes,  for  by  half-way  through  the  canon 
the  upper  part  is  twenty-eight  bars  ahead  of  the  lower 
part,  and  to  proceed  in  the  same  manner  would  be 
merely  ridiculous.  So  Bach  makes  a  little  break  in 
the  upper  part  and  the  lower  part  immediately  resumes 
the  outset  of  the  canon  in  the  quicker  notes,  in  the  same 
form  which  the  upper  part  had  at  the  beginning,  and 
the  upper  part  in  turn  is  relegated  to  the  tortoise-like 
procedure  of  augmentation  and  inversion.  The  result 
is  an  example  of  double  counterpoint,  which  is  rounded 
off  by  a  very  ingenious  little  coda  in  which,  for  a  few 
bars,  the  upper  part  is  allowed  to  resume  the  quicker 

1  In  the  original  the  uninverted  version  and  the  upside- 
down  version  were  given  one  over  another,  bar  by  bar. 


528  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

motion.  There  are  several  more  canons  in  various 
styles  based  upon  ingenious  and  effective  variations 
of  the  principal  subject  of  the  series,  and  they 
all  have  some  kind  of  general  scheme  like  the  first, 
based  upon  a  similar  distribution  of  canonic 
inversions. 

The  canons  are  followed  by  two  arrangements  or 
enlargements  of  the  quick  fugues  No.  13  and  its  in- 
version, for  two  claviers;  and  they,  by  the  torso  of  a 
great  fugue  on  three  subjects,  in  the  latter  part  of 
which  Bach  introduced  the  subject  on  his  own  name, 
which  has  become  familiar  in  later  times  through  the 
many  experiments  with  it  that  have  been  made  thence- 
forward by  all  manner  of  composers.  This  was  probably 
the  first  of  these  experiments  and  it  is  possible  that  Bach 
meant  to  conclude  the  "  Kunst  der  Fuge"  therewith, 
as  though  in  a  whimsically  figurative  manner  writing 
his  sign  manual  in  music  at  the  end  of  his  last  fugal 
work. 

As  to  the  intention  of  the  work,  there  is  no  possi- 
bility of  arriving  at  any  kind  of  certitude.  The  greater 
part  of  it  does  not  come  within  the  range  of  prac- 
tical music  at  all,  and  Bach  could  never  have  intended 
it  to  be  presented  to  an  audience  as  a  consistent  work 
of  art.  What  seems  most  probable  is  that  he  amused 
himself  by  experimenting  on  the  possibilities  of  many 
of  the  different  kinds  of  artistic  devices  which  he  had 
accumulated  and  assimilated  in  the  course  of  his  con- 
stantly active  life— dexterities  which  afforded  him 
pleasure  in  the  exercise,  and  which  in  this  case  were, 
exceptionally,  the  aim  of  his  labours. 

In  Bach's  character  there  were  obviously  two  di- 
vergent  impulses — the  emotional   and   the  practical. 


''  Kunst  der  Fuge  ''  529 

Any  man  endowed  with  immense  strength  must  in- 
evitably rejoice  in  its  exercise,  and  the  same  is  true  of 
acquired  dexterity;  and  however  great  the  instinct  for 
using  such  powers  as  means  to  serviceable  ends,  there 
must  be  occasions  when,  there  being  no  ostensible 
object  to  which  to  apply  them,  they  are  used  for  the 
mere  pleasure  of  feeling  their  existence  and  enhancing 
them.  Bach's  temptation  to  use  his  powers  in  such  a 
way  was  twofold.  The  constant  urgency  to  produce 
new  cantatas  for  the  various  seasons  and  festivals  of 
the  church  sometimes  made  it  difificult  to  fmd  a  subject 
which  appealed  to  his  sympathies  and  awakened  his 
highest  inspirations;  and  under  the  stress  of  such  ur- 
gency he  often  resorted  to  a  display  of  superb  skill  to 
justify  the  work  of  art  which  had  to  be  produced  under 
uninspiring  conditions.  The  frequency  of  this  neces- 
sity fostered  the  readiness  to  take  pleasure  in  the 
exercise  of  such  skill,  which,  it  may  be  admitted,  was 
constantly  enhanced  thereby.  And  in  this  way  the 
aptitude  for  producing  abstract  works  of  art  which 
had  no  reference  to  specially  interesting  ends  was 
engendered. 

Of  this  impulse  the  ''  Kunst  der  Fuge"  was  probably 
the  most  conspicuous  phenomenon.  But  no  doubt  his 
motives,  as  is  usually  the  case,  were  mixed.  The  edu- 
cational purpose,  which  is  so  frequently  manifested 
in  the  titles  which  he  gave  to  his  works  as  well  as  in 
their  intrinsic  qualities,  probably  also  weighed  with 
him;  and  he  most  probably  thought  that  the  display 
of  such  a  vast  array  of  the  devices  and  features  of  fugal 
art  would  help  students  of  composition  to  realise  what 
was  worth  doing,  and  how  to  dispose  the  various  tech- 
nicalities of  fugue— the  exposition  and  counter  exposi- 


530  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

tion,  the  various  kinds  of  stretto,  counter  subjects, 
working  of  figures  of  the  subject,  and  other  phases  of 
the  mechanism.  And  this  m.ay  have  been  the  reason 
for  his  taking  the  unusual  course  of  beginning  to  have 
the  work  engraved  at  once.  As  has  been  said,  he  did 
not  Hve  to  finish  it,  and  the  final  fugue  on  three  sub- 
jects comes  to  an  abrupt  stop,  no  doubt  far  from  its 
intended  conclusion.  No  one  was  at  the  time  suffi- 
ciently in  touch  with  his  work  to  know  what  was 
intended,  and  it  is  obvious  also  that  the  individual 
numbers  are  not  entirely  in  the  order  which  he  would 
finally  have  adopted. 

The  engraving  was  proceeded  with  after  his  aeath, 
apparently  under  Philipp  Emanuel's  supervision,  and 
he  was  the  likeliest  of  the  sons  to  know  what  his  father's 
intentions  were:  but  his  own  line  of  art  was  not  of  the 
nature  to  enable  him  to  make  up  any  gaps  in  his  father's 
work,  or  to  divine  what  to  do  when  the  order  of  the 
movements  appeared  inconclusive.  The  first  edition 
is  admitted  to  have  been  very  badly  edited,  and  its 
success  when  brought  out  in  1752  was  far  from  en- 
couraging. The  work  has  always  been  spoken  of  by 
musicians  as  something  most  important,  in  its  affording 
copious  illustrations  of  Bach's  fugal  skill  of  the  highest 
order.  But  no  work  of  his  is  less  known,  and  in  its 
entirety  it  is  not  fit  to  be  played  as  practical  music. 
In  this  connection  it  is  to  be  observed  that  it  is  not 
written  in  short  score,  as  if  for  keyed  instruments,  but 
with  the  parts  on  separate  staves,  which  makes  it  easier 
to  read  and  to  follow  the  ramifications  of  counterpoint 
and  the  strettos  and  canonic  imitations.  But  this 
engenders  no  desire  to  hear  the  movements  played  by 
separate  instruments,  as  the  style  is,  for  the  most  part. 


''  Kunst  der  Fuge  ''  531 

too  abstract,  and  only  in  a  few  places  suggests  instru- 
mental effect  at  all.  And,  finally,  the  work  was  not 
called  "  Kunst  der  Fuge"  by  Bach,  and  the  movements 
were  not  called  fugues  at  all,  but  "counterpoints," 
which  points  to  abstract  intentions  and  not  to  per- 
formance. The  work  contains,  together  with  as- 
tounding examples  of  Bach's  dexterity,  a  few  numbers 
of  great  interest  and  moments  of  beauty,  but  beyond 
that  it  must  remain  more  or  less  of  a  tantalising  enigma. 


1/ 


V 


CHAPTER   XVI 

THE  END 

The  hold  which  the  German  chorales  kept  upon  Bach 
from  first  to  last  is  the  most  significant  token  of  the 
depth  and  steadfast  earnestness  of  his  nature,  and 
the  warmth  and  sensitiveness  of  his  imagination.  The 
strange  love  of  symbolism  which  was  deeply  engrained 
in  him  made  him  feel  them  to  be  the  embodiments  of 
the  religious  sentiments  which  were  expressed  by  the 
words  of  the  hymns  with  which  they  Vv'ere  associated; 
and  when  he  harmonised  them  or  adorned  them  with 
all  the  subtlety  of  his  art  in  the  forms  of  "organ 
chorales,"  "chorale  preludes,"  "chorale  fantasias," 
"chorale  fugues,"  or  "chorale  variations"  he  was 
moved  to  give  expression  to  the  feelings  of  rever- 
ence and  devotion  which  the  hymns  embodied.  In 
the  finest  of  his  compositions  in  these  forms  the 
exquisite  skill  and  sensibility  with  which  he  adorned 
the  tunes  was  no  vain  display  of  artistic  ingenuities, 
but  the  revelation  of  the  deepest  workings  of  his 
nature,  the  very  musings  of  his  inmost  soul.  This 
is  apparent  even  in  his  unique  treatment  of  the  final 
chorales  in  the  cantatas — -v/here  he  presents  a  har- 
monisation  of  so  strange  and  unconventional  a  kind 

532 


The  End  533 

that  no  other  composer  has  ever  had  the  temerity  to 
venture  on  anything  approaching  it. 

Such  work  is  only  possible  under  special  conditions, 
when  the  man  and  the  moment  are  consonant.  Bach 
represented  a  phase  of  religious  expression  in  music 
which  cannot  recur.  All  the  finest  qualities  of  Teutonic 
devotionalism  and  mysticism  found  their  expression 
in  him.  Untroubled  by  the  speculations  of  later 
philosophy,  the  central  story  of  Christianity  was  to 
him  a  supreme  and  vivid  reality,  and  constantly 
aroused  in  him  the  purest  and  noblest  sentiments  of 
which  man  is  capable.  And  indeed  such  sentiments 
as  trust,  adoration,  wonder,  hope,  humility,  gratitude, 
contrition,  submission,  self-abasement  and  ideal  love 
are  most  apt  to  be  expressed  in  music.  His  imagination 
dwelt  on  the  story  of  the  supreme  sacrifice  and  loved 
to  meditate  on  the  incidents  of  the  life  of  One  for 
Whom  he  felt  a  personal  devotion.  And  these  medita- 
tions are  represented  in  his  chorale  preludes  and  works 
of  that  type,  as  though  his  mind  wandered  quietly  on 
and  the  music  welled  out  as  the  spirit  moved  him, 
kept  just  within  the  bounds  of  necessary  artistic 
coherence  by  the  presence  of  the  sacred  symbol  of  the 
chorale  tune. 

No  doubt  his  attitude  of  mind  varied,  inasmuch  as  he 
was  most  essentially  human.  There  are  chorale  pre- 
ludes and  chorale  fantasias  in  which  he  seems  to  be 
bent  on  enriching  the  tune  with  the  best  out  of  the 
wealth  of  his  artistic  treasury,  and  paying  it  the  highest 
tribute  of  his  skill.  Under  the  most  favourable  cir- 
cumstances he  combined  the  expression  of  feeling 
with  the  richest  manifestations  of  his  power.  The 
types   have   been   discussed   in   connection   with   the 


534  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

"Little  Organ  Book"  and  the  collection  in  the  "Clavier- 
iibung."  These,  however,  represent  but  a  small  portion 
of  the  enormous  number  of  movements  on  chorales  of 
different  kinds  which  remain,  representing  every  phase 
of  his  development  from  first  to  last.  It  is  clear  that 
his  facility  and  the  habit  of  directing  his  mental  ac- 
tivity became  so  great  that,  as  soon  as  the  chorale  was 
chosen  and  the  mood  engendered,  the  prelude  or 
fantasia  would  spring  forth  complete  in  one  jet. 

The  chorale  movements  were  a  constant  resource  to 
the  composer,  and  a  constant  refreshment  of  devotional 
sentiment:  somewhat  analogous  to  the  pencil  drawings 
and  studies  by  great  painters, which  have  been  executed 
sometimes  for  the  mere  pleasure  of  exercising  skill  or 
to  record  some  fleeting  artistic  inspirations,  sometimes 
with  a  view  of  solving  some  artistic  difficulty  which 
unexpectedly  offered  itself  to  the  mind,  inviting  the 
pleasure  of  wrestling  with  it,  oftentimes  of  perpetuating 
some  thought  of  beauty  in  artistic  terms.  The  circum- 
stances in  which  such  works  were  produced  preclude  the 
possibility  of  deciding  the  time  of  their  execution, 
except  in  rare  cases.  A  few  tell  their  tale  by  intrinsic 
qualities,  such  as  the  primitive  chorale  prelude  on 
Erharm  dich  mein  which  is  given  in  the  Bach  Gesell- 
schaft  Collection,  vol.  xl.,  p.  60.  A  fair  proportion 
can  be  dated  according  to  their  appearance  in  collec- 
tions made  up  by  Bach  himself,  and  of  these  a  few 
make  their  appearance  with  pathetic  aptness  in  the 
last  ten  years  of  his  life. 

It  must  be  loyally  admitted  that  in  these  last  ten 
years  the  overwhelming  torrent  of  production,  which 
had  lasted  almost  without  intermission  for  over  thirty 
years,  came  to  a  pause.     It  has  been  already  related  in 


The  End  535 

what  manner  Bach  made  his  farewell  obeisance  in  the 
province  of  one  of  the  two  great  influences  in  his  life, 
the  fugue.  That  took  the  story  up  to  1747.  The 
other  great  influence,  the  chorale,  takes  the  story  up 
to  the  fmal  moments. 

There  are  three  definite  points  at  which  the  chorales 
make  their  appearance  unmistakably  in  the  last  decade. 
A  singular  collection  comes  first,  of  which  the  title  is 
as  follows:  Sechs  Chorale  von  verschiedener  Art  auf 
einer  Or  gel  mil  ^wei  Clavier  en  und  Pedal  vor^uspielen, 
verfertiget  von  J.  S.  Bach.  Bach  seems  to  have  been 
fond  of  drawing  up  title-pages,  and  the  word  "ver- 
fertiget" indicates  that  he  was  the  author  of  this 
examiple.  He  had  used  it  also  on  the  title-page  of  the 
first  series  of  the  "Wohltempenrtes  Clavier"  (p.  145). 
The  modest  word  "Chorale"  as  here  used  isunenlight- 
ening  to  people  who  are  not  German  Lutherans.  They 
are,  in  fact,  a  group  of  chorale  preludes  and  chorale 
fantasias  which  in  the  majority  of  cases,  if  not  all, 
are  transfers  or  arrangements  from  movements  in 
cantatas,  illustrating  the  identity  of  such  movements 
with  the  organ-chorale  forms.  The  first  of  the  series 
is  the  exquisite  and  dainty  chorale-fantasia  from  the 
cantata  JVachet  auf,  which  has  been  discussed  in  con- 
nection with  that  cantata.  (See  p.  390).  The  second 
is  not  identifiable,  but  it  is  verv  probable  that  it  is  an 
arrangement  of  a  movement  from  one  of  the  lost  can- 
tatas. It  is  an  illustration  of  a  quaint  fancy  of  the 
composer's  (of  which  there  are  several  examples  in  this 
collection,  as  elsewhere)  for  giving  the  tune  to  the 
pedals,  though  not  in  the  bass,  by  the  device  of  indi- 
cating eight-foot  stops  for  the  right  hand,  sixteen-foot 
stops  for  the  left   hand,  and   four-foot   stops  for  the 


53^  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

pedals.  By  this  means  the  pedal  part  sounds  above 
the  part  given  to  the  left  hand,  and  even  at  times 
above  that  given  to  the  right  hand. 

The  third  number,  Wer  nur  den  liehen  GoU,  is  trans- 
ferred from  the  duet  Er  kenntdie  rechten  Freudenstunden 
in  the  cantata  of  the  name  of  the  chorale;  the  parts 
for  the  voices  and  continuo  are  given  to  the  hands, 
and  the  chorale  tune  (which  in  the  cantata  is  given 
to  the  massed  strings)  is  again  allotted  to  the  pedals, 
with  the  same  device  as  in  the  second  number  of 
the  series. 

The  fourth  is  a  literal  transfer  to  the  organ  of  the 
duet  for  soprano  and  tenor,  Er  denket  der  Barmher^ig- 
keit,  from  the  cantata,  Meine  Seel'  erhebt  den  Herrn, 
(see  p.  41 5),  the  two  voice  parts  being  given  to  the  left 
hand,  the  chorale  (which  in  the  cantata  is  given  to 
the  oboe  and  trumpet)  to  the  right  hand,  and  the 
continuo  part  to  the  pedals. 

The  fifth  is  an  abbreviated  transfer  of  the  solo  for 
soprano  Ach  bleib'  bet  uns,  Herr  Jesu  Christ  in  the 
cantata  BleiV  bet  uns,  in  which  the  ornate  part  of  the 
violoncello  piccolo  is  given  to  the  left  hand  and  the  voice 
part  to  the  right.  The  sixth  movement,  Kommst  du 
nun,  Jesu,  is  a  transfer  of  the  alto  solo  in  the  cantata 
Lobe  den  Herrn,  den  mdchtigen  Konig  der  Ehren,  in 
which  the  chorale,  sung  by  the  soloist  in  the  cantata,  is 
yet  again  given  to  the  pedals,  as  in  the  second  and  third 
number  of  the  collection,  and  the  solo  violin  part  and 
the  continuo  to  the  hands. 

The  collection  is  characteristic  of  the  composer  in 
many  ways,  especially  of  his  noteworthy  habit  of  trying 
his  works  in  various  different  guises.  It  was  evidently 
made  with  the  intention  of  being  engraved  and  pub- 


The  End  537 

lished,  and  was  so  engraved  in  the  composer's  lifetime 
by  Schiibler  of  Zelle,  from  which  circumstance  the 
works  are  commonly  known  as  the  ''Schiiblerschen 
Chorale/'  And  it  may  be  observed,  in  view  of  the 
lack  of  discrimination  which  purists  sometimes  display 
in  finding  fault  with  the  performance  of  sundry  ar- 
rangements of  Bach's  works,  that  this  collection  gives 
an  emphatic  endorsement  of  that  practice  by  the 
composer  himself. 

With  this  collection  it  seems  most  natural  to  couple 
the  set  of  eighteen  works  on  chorales,  the  title-page  of 
which  is  an  almost  exact  counterpart  of  that  above 
described.  But  if  the  accepted  story  of  the  revision  of 
the  fmal  movement  of  the  series  is  true,  it  is  obvious 
that  the  collection  could  not  have  been  completed  by 
Bach  himself  (see  p.  542).  But  since  nearly  all  the 
movements  exist  in  fair  copy  in  Bach's  own  hand  in 
the  Berlin  Library  it  is  probable  that  he  began  revising 
and  bringing  together  what  he  considered  the  finest 
of  his  chorale  movements,  and  did  not  live  to  complete 
the  series,  and  that  his  son-in-law  Altnikol  added  the 
last  movement  afterwards. 

The  collection  contains  many  movements  on  chorales 
which  are  of  most  imposing  proportions.  Bach  prob- 
ably favoured  them  specially  as  representing  the  utmost 
limit  of  development  of  which  the  form  seemed  capable. 
Of  such  the  long  fantasias  on  Komm  heiliger  Geisi, 
Herr  Jesu  Christ  dich  {u  uns  wend,  0  Lamm  Gottes 
unschuldig,  the  second  and  third  of  the  three  on 
Nun  komm,  der  Heiden  Heiland,  the  second  and  third 
on  Allein  Gott  in  der  Hob',  and  Jesus  Christus  unser 
Heiland  are  examples.  They  nearly  all  consist  of 
fine   ramifications   of  characteristic   passages   in   the 


53 8  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

accompanying  parts  with  the  chorale  in  long  notes. 
Among  these  the  second  on  Nun  komm,  der  Heiden 
Heiland  and  the  third  on  Allein  Gott  in  der  H'oh'  are 
trios,  dealt  with  in  the  same  style  as  the  trio  sonatas 
(p.  501),  in  which  passages  which  cross  one  another  on 
the  two  manuals  are  special  features.  In  strong  con- 
trast are  two  beautiful  slow  movements  on  Von  Gott 
will  ich  nicht  lassen  and  the  first  on  Allein  Gott  in  der 
Hoh' ,  which  are  in  a  reflective  mood,  and  exquisitely 
elaborated  with  subtleties  of  ornament  and  other  de- 
tails. The  first  of  the  two  is  a  parallel  example  to  those 
in  the  " Schiiblerschen  Chorale"  in  which  the  pedal  is 
marked  for  4-foot  stops,  and  therefore  plays  the  melody 
high  among  the  other  parts,  the  left  hand  taking  the 
bass.  The  latter  is  marked  adagio  and  the  tune  is 
daintily  and  reverently  ornamented,  the  ornamentation 
culminating  in  a  characteristic  cadenza  at  the  close. 
The  movement  on  Nun  danket  Alle  Gott  is  notable 
for  the  fidelity  with  which  it  follows  the  scheme  of  the 
so-called  "Pachelbel  Choralvorspiel,"  in  the  anticipa- 
tion of  each  phrase  of  the  chorale  by  the  accompanying 
parts  in  shorter  notes  than  the  tune.  The  m^ovement 
on  Komm,  Gott,  Schopfer  is  quite  different  from  all  the 
rest,  being  an  expansion  of  the  little  movement  on  the 
same  chorale  in  the  Orgel-Biichlein  (see  p.  185).  Bach 
must  have  been  interested  in  the  experiment  and  was 
possibly  disappointed  with  the  effect  of  its  expansion. 
For  the  long  passage  which  is  added  (being  a  repetition 
in  the  bass  of  the  chorale  tune  which  had  first  been  in 
the  treble)  entirely  ignores  the  characteristic  figures 
of  the  opening,  and  adopts  the  scheme  of  spacious 
passage  writing  which  was  more  sure  of  being  effective. 
An  IVasserfliissen  Babylon  is  slow  moving,  quiet,  and 


The  End  539 

meditative;  in  a  similar  mood  to  the  movement 
founded  on  the  same  chorale  which  has  been  before  re- 
ferred to  (see  p.  504).  A  special  atmosphere  is  imparted 
by  the  manner  in  which  the  melodic  passage  in  which 
Bach  has  presented  the  first  phrase  of  the  chorale 
seems  to  echo  through  the  whole  movement,  as  though 
he  loved  to  toy  with  it  in  all  manner  of  disguises.  In 
this  case  the  presentment  of  the  chorale  in  the  tenor 
part  is  not  in  long  notes  but  in  notes  of  the  same 
value  as  those  of  the  accompanying  parts,  which 
seems  in  the  particular  case  to  have  a  very  happy 
eifect. 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  of  all,  SchmUcke  did,  O 
liehe  Seele,  may  be  coupled  with  An  JVasserflUssen 
Babylon,  as  it  is  in  the  same  meditative  vein,  and 
has  much  the  same  tender  devotional  atm.osphere. 
In  this  case  the  chorale  tune  is  given  in  long  notes  in 
the  treble  and  is  only  ornamented  with  moderation. 
The  effect  it  produces  on  the  sympathetic  listener  is 
indescribable,  as  if  Bach  could  be  felt  to  be  communing 
with  his  own  soul,  which  he  had  adorned  with  all  the 
loveliest  qualities  a  poetic  imagination  could  supply. 
The  story  is  told  by  Schumann  in  a  letter  addressed  to 
Mendelssohn,  how  the  latter  played  this  movement 
on  some  occasion  to  the  former,  and  it  seemed  as  though 
"around  the  cantus  firmus  hung  winding  wreaths  of 
golden  leaves,  and  such  blissfulness  was  breathed  from 
within  it,  that  you  yourself  avowed  that  if  life  was 
bereft  of  all  hope  and  faith,  this  one  chorale  would 
renew  them  for  you.  I  was  silent  and  went  away 
dazed  into  God's  acre,  feeling  acutely  pained  that  I 
could  lay  no  flower  on  his  urn." 

The  last  of  the  series,  ^or  dcincn  Thron  tret'  ich. 


540  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

is  in  the  same  vein,  but  consideration  of  it  must  be 
deferred  till  later. 

Another  work  which  belongs  to  the  latest  years  of 
his  life  is  the  series  of  ''Variations"  on  the  Christmas 
chorale  Vom  Himmel  hoch,  which  appears  to  have 
been  written  for  the  Leipzig  Musical  Society,  possibly 
as  a  compliment,  on  his  joining  it  in  1747.  The  so- 
called  Variations  are  not  Variations  in  the  ordinary 
sense  of  the  term,  but  chorale  fantasias  and  chorale 
preludes.  The  collection  has  an  aifmity  to  the  Goldberg 
Variations,  inasmuch  as  each  movement  presents  a 
canon  of  some  sort.  In  the  first  movement  the  canon 
(at  the  octave)  is  between  the  accompanying  parts 
which  are  given  to  the  hands,  the  pedals  having  the 
chorale  in  its  unadorned  simplicity.  In  the  second, 
again,  the  pedals  have  the  tune,  but  the  music  for  the 
hands  presents  the  interesting  quality  of  being  on  the 
lines  of  the  Pachelbel  type  of  the  chorale  prelude, 
the  musical  figures  anticipating  the  chorale  in  quicker 
time — as  in  the  first  chorus  of  Ein  feste  Burg, — and 
out  o'f  these  figures  Bach  makes  a  fluent  and  tuneful 
canon  at  the  fifth  below,  in  a  characteristic  m.anner  com- 
bining two  principles.  The  third  movement  presents 
a  canon  at  the  seventh  with  a  free  part,  and  the  chorale 
in  the  treble;  the  fourth  movement  has  a  canon  by 
augmentation  and  a  free  part  for  the  hands,  and  the 
chorale  on  the  pedals.  The  last  movement  is  a  singular 
tour  de  force.  It  begins  with  a  canon  by  inversion  at 
the  sixth  on  the  tune  of  the  chorale,  which  is  given 
entire  in  that  abstruse  canonic  form  with  a  free  bass, 
and  the  music,  without  staying  its  course,  immediately 
presents  the  chorale  in  canon  by  inversion  at  the  third, 
and  going  on  in  the  same  fashion,  as  soon  as  one  canon 


The  End  541 

is  finished  presenting  another  by  inversion  at  the 
second,  then  at  the  ninth,  and  ending  in  five  parts, 
including  pedal,  with  a  profusion  of  little  canons  in 
diminution,  which  seem  to  be  tumbling  over  one 
another  in  their  eagerness  to  get  into  the  scheme 
before  the  inexorable  limits  of  formal  proportion  shut 
the  door  with  the  final  cadence. 

The  musical  effect  in  these  variations  is  subordinated 
to  the  display  of  skill.  The  third  and  fourth  varia- 
tions contain  some  beautiful  music:  otherwise  the 
work  illustrates  the  type  referred  to  above  in  which 
the  tribute  to  the  chorale  is  rather  of  the  head  than 
of  the  heart.  Bach  had  so  constantly  used  his  highest 
skill  for  the  purposes  of  devotional  expression  that  he 
seems  to  have  arrived  at  the  frame  of  mind  which, 
through  association,  felt  the  skill  itself  to  be  something 
sacred  and  devotional.  Such  a  situation  is  not  un- 
familiar with  other  composers  besides  Bach,  when 
diminution  of  spontaneously  inventive  powers  impels 
them  to  lay  stress  on  their  technical  attainments. 
But  on  the  other  hand  Bach  may  have  been  impelled  to 
produce  a  sample  of  his  amazing  mastery,  such  as  no 
other  man  living  or  indeed  any  man  of  any  other  time 
could  emulate,  in  order  to  gratify  the  members  of 
the  Leipzig  Musical  Society,  who  prided  themselves 
on  their  excessive  valuation  of  theory,  and  were  more 
likely  to  appreciate  his  feats  of  skill  than  the  most 
deeply  felt  music  he  could  set  before  them. 

It  is  said  that  the  manuscript  of  this  work  betrays 
in  several  places  the  signs  of  failing  sight.  Bach  had 
subjected  his  eyes  to  a  truly  immense  strain  from  the 
first.  Very  few  mien  have  ever  transferred  such  a 
prodigious  mass  of  original  work  to  paper;  and  besides 


1/ 


542  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

his  own  compositions  he  had  copied  a  vast  quantity 
of  other  people's,  and  he  often  wrote  out  the  parts  of 
his  own  works  for  performances.  Besides  all  this 
huge  quantity  of  writing,  his  daily  work  must  have 
been  in  great  part  done  by  reading  from  manuscript, 
which  is  much  more  trying  to  the  eyes  than  print.  So 
the  wonder  is  rather  that  his  eyes  lasted  so  long  than 
that  they  showed  ominous  signs  of  collapse  about  the 
time  that  he  was  sixty  years  old.  In  the  later  years 
of  the  fifth  decade  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  state 
of  affairs  was  so  serious  that  he  was  induced  to  submit 
to  two  operations,  which  were  worse  than  unsuccess- 
ful, as  they  left  him  blind.  This  appears  to  have 
been  at  the  beginning  of  1750.  In  July,  however, 
his  sight  was  for  a  time  partially  restored;  but  his 
health  was  quite  broken  and  his  family  and  friends 
foresaw  the  inevitable  end.  So  it  came  about  that 
his  last  work,  in  the  form  that  he  loved  so  dearly, 
was  finished  on  his  death-bed. 

' —  It  is  said  that  some  time  before  he  had  begun  a 
chorale  prelude  on  the  tune  IVenn  wir  in  hochsten 
Nothen  sein  ("When  we  are  in  deepest  need").      He 

■^  now  completed  it — tradition  says  by  dictating  the 
music  to  his  pupil  and  son-in-law  Altnikol — and  with 
touching  sincerity  of  devotion  he  altered  the  title  from 
the  piteous  expression  of  deepest  need  to  the  words 
Vor  deinen  Thron  tret'  ich  ("  I  come  before  Thy 
throne ! ") .  Death  had  always  had  a  strange  fascination 
for  him,  and  many  of  his  most  beautiful  compositions 
had  been  inspired  by  the  thoughts  which  it  suggested. 
And  now  he  met  it,  not  with  repinings  or  fear  of 
the  unknown,  but  with  the  expression  of  exquisite 
peace  and  trust.     Music  had  been  his  life.     Music  had 


The  End 


543 


been  his  one  means  of  expressing  himself,  and  in  the 
musical  form  which  had  been  most  congenial  to  him 
he  bids  his  farewell;  and  only  in  the  last  bar  of  all  for 
a  moment  a  touch  of  sadness  is  felt,  where  he  seems  to 
look  round  upon  those  dear  to  him  and  to  cast  upon 
them  the  tender  gaze  of  sorrowing  love. 


&t 


iS: 


^— # 


-z?r 


--^- 


=i: 


And  with  that  last  phrase  his  earthly  labours  ended, 
on  July  28,  1750. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
POSTSCRIPT 

For  over  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  since  Bach's  death 
composers  have  been  constantly  endeavouring  to  en- 
hance their  artistic  resources;  and  yet  with  all  their 
devoted  and  unsparing  efforts  they  do  not  appear  to 
have  got  much  beyond  the  standard  of  his  achieve- 
ments. In  some  respects,  indeed,  they  seem  like 
people  who  have  turned  aside  from  a  path  which  ap- 
peared rather  too  arduous  and  have  gone  a  long  way 
round,  only  to  fmd  themselves  after  a  long  climb  at 
much  the  same  place  as  they  started  from. 

No  doubt  the  aspect  of  art  has  enormously 
changed.  The  whole  story  of  the  development  of 
the  classical  sonata,  and  the  orchestral  symphony, 
and  the  music  drama,  and  chamber  music,  and  the 
modern  song  and  romantic  and  pyrotechnical  piano- 
forte music  has  intervened;  and,  as  Bach  dealt  in 
none  of  these  things,  it  may  be  admitted  that  his 
range  of  art  was  limited,  inasmuch  as  it  is  devoid 
of  many  of  the  features  which  they  represent.  The 
eflfect  is  most  noticeable  in  his  use  of  his  orchestral 
forces,  and  the  gaps  induced  by  his  acceptance  of  that 
unfortunate  makeshift,  the  figured  bass;  and  it  is  also 
noticeable  in  the  lack  of  stress  laid  on  formal  distribu- 

544 


Postscript  545 

tion  of  contrasting  keys  in  his  work.  As  has  fre- 
quently been  said,  Bach's  ways  of  using  his  instru- 
mental forces  can  hardly  be  described  as  orchestration 
in  the  modern  sense.  With  occasional  exceptions,  he 
writes  for  all  his  instruments,  whether  wind  or  strings, 
on  free  contrapuntal  principles  and  on  equal  terms] 
just  as  he  would  write  for  voices;  and  when  such 
usage  is  eked  out  by  a  figured  bass  to  fill  up  gaps  in 
the  harmony,  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  problems 
of  orchestration  have  not  been  completely  solved. 

In  such  matters  as  the  effective  use  of  tone  quality 
and  all  that  appertains  to  genuine  orchestral  effect, 
modern  music  has  made  gigantic  strides.     And  it  has 
made   some   also  in   the   understanding  of  harmonic 
and  tonal  relations.     Very  nearly  the  whole  function 
of  the  long  story  of  the  classical  sonata  was  to  teach 
men  to  regard  relations  of  keys  as  the  basis  of  artistic 
organisation.     And   since  that  important  period  was 
completed,  the  efforts  of  composers  have  been  applied 
to   turn   the  recognition   of   key  relationships  to  ac- 
count for  the  purposes  of  expression.     Bach  had  little 
concern  with  relationships  of  keys  in  the  formal  sense, 
though  he  made  some  interesting  experiments  in  such 
directions  which  have  been  discussed.     His  chief  busi- 
ness was  with  polyphonic  work;  and  the  early  phases 
of  the  new  kind  of  harmonic  music  of  the  sonata  order, 
though  they  were  due  to  lead  to  great  results,  were 
too  poor   and   invertebrate  in  his  time  to  beget  any 
impulse  to  follow  them  seriously  or  strenuously.     In 
fact,  considering  the  infantile  standard  of  harmonic 
music  of  his  time,  it  would  have  been  almost  impos- 
sible to  be  strenuous  in  it  at  all.     The  familiar  fact 
referred    to    at    the  beginning   of    the   chapter    was 

35 


546  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

confirmed  most  amply,  as  at  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  When  men  think  they  have 
found  a  new  path  in  art  they  do  not  start  from  the 
point  at  which  the  old  path  has  arrived,  but  a  very 
long  way  back.  And  they  have  to  toil  a  long  way 
up  the  old  ascent  once  more,  before  they  can  pick 
up  again  the  level  they  had  left.  And  then  they  go 
forward  by  combining  the  new  forms  of  artistic 
activity  with  the  old.  So  true  is  it  that  there  is  no 
break  of  continuity  in  the  story  of  the  development 
of  art. 

Bach's  sphere  was  the  fmal  exposition  of  the  possi- 
bilities of  polyphonic  art,  and  when  the  composers 
after  his  time  had  developed  the  principles  of  harmonic 
music  far  enough  to  feel  assurance  and  freedom  in  the 
use  of  them,  they  combined  their  kind  of  art  with 
Bach's  polyphonic  methods,  and  made  them  most  effec- 
tive in  the  very  department  of  art  in  which  Bach  was 
most  deficient — namely,  orchestration.  The  difference 
being  that  the  various  instruments  representing  different 
tone  qualities  are  employed  in  modern  orchestration 
in  the  enunciation  of  the  musical  passages  which  are 
most  apt  to  their  individualities,  and  not  merely  items 
in  a  contrapuntal  network;  and  that  the  polyphonic 
treatment  of  the  various  instruments  ministers  to  that 
extravagant  delight  in  subtleties  of  colour  or  tone 
quality  which  threatens  the  possible  disintegration  of 
modern  art. 

Apart  from  these  matters  of  orchestration  and  har- 
monic form.  Bach  does  not  lose  much  from  not  having 
the  classical  sonata  behind  him.  The  principle  of 
contrast  of  key  was  in  the  air  in  his  time  and  he  caught 
it  sufficiently  to  anticipate  a  great  deal  that  was  going 


Postscript  547 

to  happen.  In  the  use  of  modulations  for  the  purposes 
of  expression  he  often  forestalled  the  most  surprising 
effects  of  the  most  adventurous  modern  composers, 
both  in  vocal  music  (as  in  recitatives  and  ariosos)  and 
in  such  instrumental  works  as  the  Chromatische 
Fantasie  and  the  great  Fantasia  in  G  minor  for  the 
organ.  His  enrichment  of  harmony  by  polyphonic 
methods  in  choral  music,  organ  music,  and  clavier 
music  makes  the  effect  as  complete  and  rich  as  that  of 
the  most  advanced  modern  achievements.  Even  the 
composers  who  appear  to  aim  at  being  several  genera- 
tions ahead  of  their  time  are  glad  to  take  a  hint  from 
him  now  and  again,  and  do  not  always  surpass  him  in 
the  issue. 

It  appears,  therefore,  that  the  sum  total  is  unequal. 
On  the  one  hand,  certain  large  groups  of  works  can  be 
taken  absolutely  without  reserve  as  being  as  fully  and 
perennially  mature  and  complete  in  every  artistic 
requirement  as  works  written  nearly  two  hundred 
years  later.  In  other  branches,  wherever,  for  instance, 
the  figured  bass  comes  in,  the  work  has  to  be  accepted 
with  mental  adjustments.  But  even  where  the  effect, 
from  the  more  exacting  modern  point  of  view,  is  inade- 
quate, it  can  hardly  ever  be  made  good.  The  only  torsos 
which  can  be  completed  are  those  which  are  not  worth 
comipleting.  The  inadequate  and  incomplete  work, 
which  is  characteristic  of  the  time,  is  still  John  Sebas- 
tian's, and  it  is  too  characteristic  of  him  to  be  meddled 
with.  In  its  very  inadequacies  it  often  gives  gleams  of 
his  unique  individuality  which  would  be  marred  in  the 
mending.  Even  if  it  be  admitted  that  there  are  a  few 
points  which  might  be  modified, — as  for  instance  the 
stupefying  da  capo  at  the  end  of  the  first  chorus  in 


54^  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

Mit  Fried'  und  Freud',  and  the  similar  misfortune 
in  Es  erhib  sich  ein  Streit,  and  the  galHng  oboes  in 
many  places  where  they  have  no  business  nowadays, 
whatever  may  have  been  inevitable  in  St.  Thomas's 
Church  on  Sundays  and  festivals, — it  is  only  by  knowing 
Bach's  work  intimately  that  such  apparent  sacrilege 
may  be  compatible  with  the  most  reverent  respect. 

There  certainly  is  no  composer  whose  work  miore 
fully  repays  intimate  knowledge.  But  then  there 
arises  the  awkward  question,  how  such  acquaint- 
ance can  possibly  be  attained.  Bach's  life's  out- 
put is  so  enormous  that  even  the  rare  enthusiasts 
who  chance  to  com.bine  sincere  intentions  with  an 
exceptional  allowance  of  leisure  m.ay  well  be  driven 
to  despair  of  ever  mastering  a  subject  so  vast. 
Moreover  the  old  type-story  of  the  treasure  that  is 
fenced  about  with  an  infinity  of  obstacles  seems  here  to 
be  revived.  The  knowledge  of  John  Sebastian  is  not 
attained  without  much  searching  of  spirit,  and  an 
expenditure  of  energy  which  requires  an  ample  supply 
of  faith  and  conviction  to  maintain.  Like  all  art  which 
is  full  to  the  brim,  his  work  has  proved  difficult  for 
average  human  beings  to  understand;  and  those  who 
have  not  the  natural  aptitude  for  understanding  run 
some  risk  of  finding  none  to  help  them  thereto.  All 
great  music  is  difficult  to  realise  because  it  requires 
correspondence  of  spirit  in  the  interpreter  with  the 
greatness  of  utterance,  and  a  capacity  to  rise  to  its 
height;  and  there  is  not  any  music  which  calls  for  more 
interpretation  than  Bach's. 

But  a  great  deal  of  Bach's  work  is  rendered  dif- 
ficult of  access  by  other  circumstances  besides  the 
difficulty   of    interpretation.     The    church    cantatas, 


Postscript  549 

which  form  by  far  the  largest  part  of  his  works  (for  in 
spite  of  losses  there  are  still  over  a  hundred  and  ninety 
of  them)  were  composed  for  and  under  conditions 
so  unique  that  comparatively  few  of  them  are  fit  to 
be  performed  with  any  hope  of  producing  the  effect 
intended.  The  stress  under  which  they  were  composed 
limited  precariously  the  consideration  due  to  the  human 
weaknesses  of  the  solo  singers;  it  caused  the  composer 
to  omit  many  directions  which  would  have  helped  his 
admirers  (whom  he  did  not  anticipate)  in  later  times. 
It  caused  him  to  put  in  many  features  which  it  grati- 
fied him  to  execute,  which  were  quite  admissible  for 
the  special  performance  which  he  had  in  mind  when 
writing,  but  are  stumbling-blocks  in  other  conditions. 
The  very  limitations  of  the  resources  of  performance 
which  were  available  to  him  caused  him  to  idealise  the 
actual  and  physical  possibilities  of  orchestra,  chorus, 
and  soli.  As  he  could  not  have  a  com.petent  collection 
of  performers,  he  wrote  as  for  the  ideal  performers  he 
called  up  in  imagination— the  only  thing  he  could  do 
under  the  circumstances  and  in  view  of  the  nature  of 
his  artistic  impulses.  And  owing  to  the  changing 
circumstances,  the  ideal  performers  are  as  little  likely 
to  present  themselves  in  later  days  as  the  ideal  condi- 
tions of  performance.  The  melancholy  conclusion 
seems  inevitable  that  the  greater  part  of  this  vast 
region  of  art  is  inaccessible  except  to  those  who 
can  read  it  in  imagination,  and  divine  the  wonder- 
ful revelations  of  the  personality  of  the  composer 
without  the  aid  of  their  ears. 

But  even  if  the  majority  of  the  church  cantatas 
can  be  admitted  to  be  knowable  to  average  mortals 
only   by    a   limited    process   of   selection,  the    array 


5  so  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

of  other  works  seems  almost  paralysing  in  its  ex- 
tent:— the  great  motets,  which  can  be  performed 
only  by  the  largest  choirs  of  exceptional  efficiency; 
the  great  sacred  works  such  as  the  Magnificat,  the 
Passions,  the  B  Minor  Mass,  which  require  all  the 
machinery  of  orchestra,  chorus,  soli,  and  a  conductor 
who  understands  what  Bach  w^ants — at  least  twenty 
suites  of  over  five  movements  apiece  which  can 
be  played  only  by  performers  gifted  with  highly 
developed  intelligence  and  technique;  concertos 
by  the  score,  overtures,  hundreds  of  preludes  and 
fugues,  variations,  toccatas,  fantasias  for  clavier  and 
organ,  and  several  hundreds  of  movements  based  on 
chorales — 'all  deserve  the  fullest  attention.  There  is 
hardly  an  item  in  the  whole  list  whose  performance 
would  not  require  assiduous  work  and  devotion.  It  is 
not  merely  a  question  of  technique,  but  of  getting  into 
touch  with  the  intentions.  There  are  hundreds  of 
pianists,  who  can  play  the  most  brilliant  and  difficult 
concert  pieces  by  the  most  ingenious  virtuosos,  to 
one  who  can  realise  such  exquisitely  poetical  inspira- 
tions as  the  chorale  preludes  and  chorale  fantasias  and 
arrangements  of  chorales  for  the  organ.  However 
great  the  demands  upon  the  technique  in  Bach's  work, 
the  demands  on  the  musical  intelligence  are  greater. 
The  technique  is  called  upon  to  present  the  letter 
and  the  intelligence  the  spirit  that  is  embodied  in  the 
letter,  and  the  constant  and  concentrated  work  which 
Bach  had  devoted  to  mastering  all  the  mysteries  of 
art  gave  him  such  readiness  in  things  that  appertain  to 
the  letter  that  nothing  stood  in  the  way  of  prompt  ut- 
terance of  the  things  that  represent  the  spirit.  Given 
the  type  of  method  to  be  followed,  it  mattered  little 


Postscript  551 

what  was  the  difificulty  of  the  procedure,  the  prompt 
mind  suppHed  at  once  the  adequate  artistic  expression. 
Yet  it  cannot  be  pretended  that  he  was  easily  satis- 
fied. When  the  first  drafts  of  compositions  can  be 
found,  they  show  wholesale  erasures,  even  impatient 
smudgings  out  of  passages  which  he  felt  to  be 
inadequate,  and  copious  corrections  of  detail.  Dif- 
ferent versions  of  the  same  works,  with  amplifica- 
tions and  reconstructions,  abound.  The  two  versions 
of  the  Magnificat,  of  which  the  first  is  almost  il- 
legible from  the  haste  in  which  it  was  written,  show 
how  carefully  he  reconsidered  his  works,  and  even 
in  the  case  of  the  "iMatthaus-Passion,"  trustworthy 
records  tell  of  comprehensive  revisions.  Like  Bee- 
thoven, he  tried  and  tested  the  schemes  and  the  de- 
tails of  his  works  from  different  points  of  view  and 
in  different  attitudes  of  mind;  and  since  he  did  not 
begin  to  engrave  his  works  till  late  in  life,  he  could 
always  change  as  much  as  he  pleased  without  having 
to  withdraw  a  superseded  edition.  While  Beethoven's 
revisions  have  to  be  looked  for  in  the  sketch  books, 
Bach's  are  mainly  found  in  the  various  versions  of 
complete  works.  Their  attitude  of  mind  was  almost 
identical.  Both  were  men  of  great  temperament, 
seeking  the  expression  of  their  personalities  on  grand 
lines;  and  both  had  to  face  the  necessity  of  exploring 
regions  unknown  and  untried;  and  both,  in  doing  so, 
set  their  feet  securely  on  the  known  before  they  ven- 
tured into  the  unknown.  Bach's  transformation  of  the 
form  of  the  fugue  was  exactly  analogous  to  Beethoven's 
transformation  of  the  classical  sonata.  In  both  of 
them  the  impulse  was  to  infuse  new  life  into  a  well- 
established,  even  hackneyed,  form.    The  technicalities 


552  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

of  the  form  in  both  cases  served  them  as  a  basis  on 
which  to  build;  but  the  technicahties  were  soon  made 
subordinate  to  the  higher  purpose  of  musical  expression 
in  the  widest  sense;  and  in  both  cases,  the  principles 
laid  down  as  essential  to  the  requirements  of  design 
were  set  aside  when  a  more  spacious  view  of  the  possi- 
bilities of  music  made  clear  to  them  the  necessity  for 
a  wider  interpretation  of  principles  of  form.  It  was  the 
abandonment  of  mere  traditions  and  regulations  which 
made  so  much  experiment  and  re-experiment  inevita- 
ble. In  the  search  for  the  satisfactory  solution  of  new 
problems,  instinct  had  to  supply  the  place  of  tradition, 
and  experiment  to  verify  the  results. 

Bach  not  only  took  infinite  pains  to  develop  his 
musical  insight,  as  has  been  shown,  by  the  close  scru- 
tiny to  which  he  subjected  the  works  of  other  composers ; 
the  spirit  of  adventure  was  strong  in  him  and  impelled 
him  constantly  to  speculative  courses.  This  is  shown 
in  every  phase  of  his  work.  When  the  mood  was  on 
him,  his  part-writing  is  sometimes  positively  reckless, 
and  the  voice  parts  occasionally  almost  unsingable. 
But  yet  it  is  not  the  clumsiness  of  the  composer  who 
does  not  know  how  to  write  otherwise,  but  the  convic- 
tion of  one  who  chooses  the  more  stirring  course  be- 
cause that  expresses  most  decisively  what  is  in  his 
mind.  His  experimental  ventures  were  serviceable  in 
other  ways;  for,  while  the  mere  procedure  of  contra- 
puntal art  had  been  thoroughly  explored  and  tested 
before  his  time,  the  various  structural  types  were  far 
otherwise,  and  he  was  bent  on  finding  as  many  differ- 
ent schemes  as  possible  wherein  to  cast  the  musical 
impulses  which  welled  up  in  him.  It  was  for  this  end 
that  he  not  only  speculated  in  all  kinds  of  forms  such 


Postscript  553 

as  concertos,  suites,  variations,  sonatas,  overtures,  sin- 
fonias,  chorale  preludes,  chorale  fantasias,  but  tried 
how  one  could  be  combined  with  another,  and  how 
they  could  be  transferred  from  the  sphere  for  which 
they  had  been  devised  into  new  conditions.  It  was 
with  the  view  of  widening  his  resources  of  design  that 
he  imported  the  form  of  the  French  and  the  Italian 
overtures  and  concertos  into  the  choral  movements  of 
his  cantatas;  that  he  expanded  the  form  of  the  chorale 
preludes  and  fantasias  into  immense  choruses,  adapted 
the  orchestral  concerto  to  a  solo  instrument,  and 
adorned  his  instrumental  fugues  with  unfugal  episodes 
annexed  from  other  types  of  art. 

All  such  novel  experiments  were  tested  by  his  own 
musical  instinct  and  not  by  reference  to  schemes  pro- 
pounded by  theorists.  He  anticipated  the  fact  that 
form  is  another  word  for  organisation,  and  that  or- 
ganisation varies  in  its  relation  to  the  quality  of  the 
matter  or  ideas  dealt  with  and  the  style  adopted.  His 
methods  of  organisation  cover  the  field  from  one  ex- 
treme to  another.  Such  rhapsodical  forms  as  some 
of  the  Toccatas,  the  great  Fantasia  in  G  minor,  and  the 
Chromatische  Fantasie,  with  its  bravura  passages  and 
its  recitatives,  represent  the  utmost  of  elasticity; 
while  the  systematic  plans  that  he  adopted  in  some  of 
his  cantata  choruses  are  so  decisive  and  clear  as  to 
verge,  in  extreme  cases,  on  the  mechanical. 

It  is  worth  observing  that  the  forms  of  the  rhap- 
sodical movements  appear  in  the  end  to  be  even  more 
convincing  than  the  forms  which  are  easy  to  analyse 
on  mechanical  principles;  and  it  may  be  added  that  he 
is  almost  invariably  at  his  best  in  movements  which 
have  a  rhapsodical  character,  because  the  type  is  most 


554  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

congenial  to  the  Teutonic  mind.  The  classical  ideal 
was  essentially  Italian  in  the  emphasis  laid  on  me- 
chanical symmetry  of  design;  the  romantic  ideal  lays 
stress  on  the  demands  of  the  spiritual,  and  claims 
the  right  to  subordinate  mechanical  symmetry  to 
poetic  thought.  In  the  end  the  symmetry  is  of  equal 
force  in  the  romantic  forms,  but  it  is  based  on  deeper 
principles.  In  showing  how  congenial  rhapsodical 
and  original  forms  were  to  him,  Bach  showed  his  kin- 
ship with  all  the  greatest  German  composers  of  a  hun- 
dred years  and  more  after  his  death.  He  was  seeking 
for  a  psychological  basis  of  form,  as  a  type  that  was 
more  deeply  rooted  than  form  which  was  entirely 
compassed  by  musical  terms  and  formulas;  and  in 
arriving  at  the  personal  solution  of  such  problems  he 
was  a  good  deal  aided  by  the  nature  of  the  fugal  form. 
For  in  the  fugue  more  stress  is  laid  upon  the  distri- 
bution of  the  thematic  material  than  upon  tonal  form, 
and  it  is  therefore  more  elastic  in  its  general  plan;  and 
of  this  elasticity  he  took  the  fullest  advantage.  For, 
as  has  been  shown,  he  was  often  driven  bv  his  impul- 
ses to  abandon  the  accepted  principles  of  fugal  struc- 
ture, even  in  the  distribution  of  the  thematic  material, 
and  to  use  his  subjects  rather  as  bonds  of  cohesion  and 
as  providing  for  the  necessary  intellectual  side  of  art, 
while  in  the  laying  out  of  the  movements  he  followed 
his  instinct  and  rejoiced  in  appeals  to  the  sensibilities. 
These  features  are  most  in  evidence  in  his  organ 
works,  which,  however  wonderful  in  texture,  make 
their  appeal  to  mankind  in  general  by  the  supreme 
insight  they  display  into  the  intrinsic  power  of  the 
organ  for  stirring  the  susceptibilities  of  human  crea- 
tures.   The  intellectualist  is  driven  to  confess  that  the 


Postscript  555 

composer  affords  him  the  amplest  satisfaction  by  the 
superb  manipulation  of  the  thematic  material,  and 
the  ordinary  hearer  who  cares  very  little  about  the- 
matic material  fmds  ample  provision  made  for  him 
also  in  the  appeals  to  his  senses.  This  shows,  among 
other  things,  that  Bach's  personality  combined  the 
primitive  human  qualities  in  large  measure  with  the 
amplest  outfit  of  the  intellectual  qualities. 

His  humanity  manifested  itself  in  many  and  various 
ways.  He  delighted  in  frank  rhythm.  No  composer 
ever  attained  to  anything  approaching  the  spon- 
taneity, freshness,  and  winsomeness  of  his  dances,  such 
as  the  gavottes,  bourrees,  passepieds,  and  gigues  in  the 
suites;  while  many  of  his  great  choruses  and  his  instru- 
mental fugues  are  inspired  with  a  force  of  rhythmic 
movement  which  thrills  the  hearer  with  a  feeling  of 
being  swept  into  space  out  of  the  range  of  common 
things.  But  his  ample  humanity  is  equally  shown  in 
his  love  of  melody.  He  is  wonderful  enough  in  the 
more  conventional  and  regular  forms  of  tune,  but  far 
more  so  in  the  deeply  expressive  rhapsodical  melody, 
the  outpouring  of  copious  and  genuine  feeling,  such  as 
is  displayed  in  his  ariosos,  the  slow  movements  for 
solo  violin,  and  the  slow  movement  of  the  Italian 
concerto.  Here  again  he  anticipates  the  trend  of  true 
Teutonic  melody,  free,  unconstrained,  welling  out 
untrammelled  by  convention,  the  direct  emanation  of 
spiritual  exaltation. 

Bach's  way  of  giving  such  rhapsodical  melodies 
coherence  emphasises  the  dependence  of  melody  on 
harmony,  and  the  degree  to  which  harmony  influences 
the  meaning  of  melody ;  and  in  harmony  is  found  Bach's 
sublimest  attribute,   the  factor  which  completes  his 


556  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

artistic  outfit  in  the  most  decisive  fashion.  Men  before 
him  had  tried  to  fmd  the  true  sphere  of  harmony  in  the 
scheme  of  expression,  such  as  Monteverde,  Schtitz, 
even  Purcell;  but  he  not  only  found  and,  perhaps 
unconsciously,  realised  its  sphere,  but  attained  almost 
at  once  to  the  command  of  the  entire  gamut  of  its 
possibilities.  The  frankest  expression  of  the  sheer 
might  of  his  harmony  is  in  the  overwhelming  successions 
of  suspensions  which  are  met  with  in  his  organ  works, 
such  as  the  Toccatas  in  C  major  (see  p.  509)  and  D 
minor  (see  p.  64).  His  motive  in  some  cases  is  the 
delight  of  interweaving  great  masses  of  sound  to 
contrast  with  passages  of  elaborate  figuration,  but 
in  others  it  is  the  delight  in  the  supreme  power  of 
harmony  as  a  means  of  expression.  The  endless 
variety  of  expression  of  the  harmonies  in  the  chorales 
which  come  at  the  end  of  most  of  his  cantatas,  the 
sublime  expression  of  the  last  few  bars  of  the  Crucifixus, 
the  central  portion  of  the  Confiteor,  the  conclusion  of 
the  Chorale  Prelude  0  Mensch,  hewein  dein  Silnde 
gross,  show  how  fully  he  realised  the  highest  capacities 
of  harmony. 

The  influence  of  the  classical  sonata  after  his  time 
set  back  the  range  of  harmony  as  a  factor  in  expression 
and  tended  to  limit  it  to  the  functions  of  form,  and  it 
was  not  till  Beethoven's  latest  works  that  anything 
like  an  equal  recognition  of  its  powers  was  shown 
again.  Even  then  it  was  hampered  by  the  newly  de- 
veloped harmonic  conceptions.  Bach's  great  oppor- 
tunity lay  in  the  polyphonic  aspect  of  his  art — the 
fruit  of  the  habit  of  looking  upon  harmony  as  the  result 
of  combined  parts,  which  facilitated  the  production  of 
infinite  varieties  of  combinations  of  sound  as  the  result 


Postscript  557 

of  independent  concurrent  melodies,  when  ornaments 
and  passing  notes  clashed  with  one  another  without 
stint  and  made  the  possibilities  of  harmonic  variety 
almost  unlimited.  And  it  was  through  this  attitude  of 
mind  that  his  harmony  attains  such  an  extraordinary 
degree  of  vitality.  He  realised  quite  early  in  his  career 
that  mere  bald  harmony  without  inner  motion  is  too 
often  dead  weight,  and  that  the  movement  of  its  com- 
ponents, either  by  counterpoint  or  figuration,  is  neces- 
sary to  give  it  full  artistic  life.  And  in  this  sphere  the 
supreme  mastery  of  technical  resource  which  his  cease- 
less labours  produced  served  him  in  the  greatest  stead. 
His  readiness  and  the  absolute  ease  with  which  he 
manipulated  large  numbers  of  parts  produced  texture 
of  a  richness  which  seems  almost  unapproachable.  The 
choruses  in  which  all  the  voices  have  their  independent 
melodies,  accompanied  by  instrumental  parts  which 
also  go  their  own  way  independently  of  the  voices,  are 
phenomena  of  complex  means  to  single  ends  which  are 
entirely  unique.  But  on  the  other  hand  the  effects 
which  are  produced  by  an  intentionally  limited  number 
of  parts  are  as  wonderful.  For  Bach  was  by  no  means 
of  the  order  of  composers  who  produce  their  effects  only 
by  multiplying  the  factors,  and  overwhelm  with  mere 
volume  of  sound.  He  knew  as  well  as  any  composer 
how  to  overwhelm  with  sound,  but  he  could  also  over- 
whelm by  the  subtlety  with  which  he  could  manipulate 
two  or  three  parts.  Even  a  single  part  was  made  at 
times  to  represent  harmony  and  to  supply  the  suggestion 
of  melody,  combined  with  it,  as  may  be  seen  in  his 
sonatas  for  solo  violin;  and  this  method  of  quasi- 
multiplication  is  sometimes  made  use  of  even  when 
many  parts  are  employed,  so  that  it  maybe  said  that 


55^  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

some  of  his  works  in  many  parts  imply  and  suggest 
even  more  parts  than  are  actually  engaged  in  the 
operations. 

Such  powers  must  have  afforded  him  pleasure  in  the 
exercise,  and  there  is  not  the  least  doubt  that  the  results 
afforded  him  pleasure  also.  He  could  not  have  achieved 
the  great  effects  of  his  organ  works  unless  he  himself 
enjoyed  them;  and  the  same  must  have  been  the  case 
with  the  motets,  however  inadequate  the  performances 
may  have  been.  Even  when  his  works  were  not  per- 
formed, the  power  of  a  musician  to  hear  every  detail 
of  a  complicated  work  in  imagination  supplied  an  ap- 
proximate alternative;  and,  as  a  rule,  the  imaginative 
hearing  is  more  critical  than  the  actual,  as  the  faculties 
are  less  likely  to  be  swamped  by  the  excitement  of  the 
senses.  So  the  fact  that  he  never  heard  some  of  his 
greatest  works  performed  with  even  the  most  distant 
approach  to  adequacy,  would  not  interfere  with  the 
pleasure  such  an  artistic  nature  must  have  felt  in 
contemplating  them. 

But  in  all  this  there  is  a  deeper  truth.  Bach's  ways 
of  making  one  part  serve  for  many,  of  combining  an 
infinite  variety  of  parts,  of  associating  the  richest  har- 
mony with  expressively  ornate  melody  in  terms  of  the 
most  spacious  rhythms,  all  point  to  the  copious  variety 
of  his  vital  energies.  The  powers  of  many  successful 
composers  have  been  limited  to  one  department  alone 
of  the  elements  of  art.  Some  are  quite  incapable  of 
anything  but  tune,  some  are  incapable  of  anything  but 
harmony,  and  some  limit  their  aspirations  to  counter- 
point, some  have  only  rhythmic  sense  and  some  only 
sense  of  colour;  but  to  Bach  it  was  indispensable  that 
he  should  have  equal  command  of  every  side  of  art,  in 


Postscript  559 

order  to  make  it  match  and  adequately  represent  the 
spiritual  wealth  and  complexity  of  his  nature.  With 
sundry  intelligible  exceptions,  it  may  be  taken  as  a 
rule  that  composers  who  only  use  one  or  two  of  the 
resources  of  art  are  men  of  small,  narrow,  or  unde- 
veloped minds.  The  limited  range  of  language  is 
adequate  to  reveal  the  limited  soul.  The  great  tempera- 
ment wrestles  and  strives,  concentrates  the  whole  pan- 
oply of  vital  forces  under  the  stress  of  the  utmost  craving 
to  fmd  adequate  presentment  of  its  subjective  states. 
The  complexity  of  Bach's  work  certainly  gave  him 
pleasure,  but  it  was  not  because  the  contemplation  of 
it  flattered  him,  but  because  the  use  of  the  vast  variety 
of  resources  represented  an  expression  of  his  inmost  and 
most  sacred  feelings  with  sufficient  adequacy  to  reawak- 
en and  revive  rare  states  of  spiritual  exaltation.  There 
surely  is  nothing  ignoble  or  debasing  in  a  man's  re- 
newing in  himself  the  finest  moments  of  his  spiritual 
life,  by  contemplating  the  record  as  manifested  in  his 
own  art.  When  a  man  considers  his  work  from  the 
point  of  view  which  he  supposes  to  be  that  of  the 
public,  he  prunes  oft  what  he  thinks  they  will  not  care 
about;  but  contemplation  from  the  point  of  view  of  his 
own  feelings  begets  self-criticism  and  the  continuous 
expansion  of  scope. 

As  has  been  said  elsewhere,  the  scope  of  a  work  of 
art  lies  in  the  range  and  variety  of  sentiment  and 
resource  which  it  displays;  Bach's  scope  was  so  compre- 
hensive and  concentrated  that  he  frequently  cumulates 
several  traits  of  thought  and  emotion  simultane- 
ously. One  of  his  favourite  devices  is  to  throw  in  an 
independent  comment  on  the  sentiment  expressed  by 
the  parts  which  are  associated  with  the  words,  by  char- 


560  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

acteristic  figures  in  the  accompaniment,  by  counter- 
subjects,  even  by  references  to  extraneous  chorale  tunes. 
The  idea  may  actually  have  come  to  him  first  in  con- 
nection with  counter-subjects  of  fugues,  which  often 
have  a  commentatory  character.  But  he  does  not  con- 
fine himself  to  combining  sentiments  in  different  parts. 
It  is  by  no  means  uncommon  to  find  a  single  part  repre- 
senting several  different  concepts,  or  different  aspects 
of  the  same  idea.  The  figure  of  two  notes  given  to  the 
pedals  in  the  Chorale  prelude  Durch  Adams  Fall 
(see  p.  184)  is  interpreted  by  one  commentator  to  be 
the  expression  of  profound  sorrow  at  the  awesome  idea 
of  the  Fall  and  its  consequences;  by  another  it  is  held 
to  be  one  of  Bach's  quaintly  symbolic  touches  of 
realistic  suggestion.  The  latter  is  obviously  right,  and 
so,  perhaps,  is  the  former;  and  if  it  were  added  that 
Bach  wrote  the  figure  because  it  was  convenient  to  the 
pedals,  and  also  because  it  introduced  a  characteristic 
rhythmic  element  into  the  movement,  and  also  because 
the  broken  character  of  the  passage  was  of  aesthetic 
value  in  relation  to  the  continuity  of  the  passages  given 
to  the  hands,  he  would  not  have  half  exhausted  the 
multitudinous  motives  which  impelled  the  composer. 
The  justification  of  the  practice  of  transferring  move- 
m.ents  originally  written  to  secular  words,  to  works 
which  were  to  serve  for  sacred  purposes,  lies  in  such 
many-sided  implications;  for  where  a  single  passage 
or  movement  represents  various  combined  intentions, 
different  meanings  may  be  specially  emphasised. 

Bach  verified  the  fact,  that  has  been  overlooked  by 
many  well-meaning  advocates  of  programme  music,  that 
music's  relation  to  the  external  aspects  of  things  is  a 
very  small  part  of  its  functions;  but  that  it  combines 


Postscript  561 

an  unlimited  number  of  sentiments  and  associations 
with  a  central  idea,  and  includes  such  a  vast  variety 
of  connotations  of  any  particular  concept  that  words 
cannot  either  cope  with  or  summarise  its  richest  mani- 
festations. Its  sphere  is  different  from  that  of  words; 
and  those  who  maintain  that  technical  analysis  covers 
the  ground  of  what  artistic  souls  may  admire,  are  as 
much  at  fault  as  the  idealists  and  impressionists  who 
appear  to  think  that  great  masters  have  provided  the 
resources  of  art  to  enable  moderns  to  represent  the  con- 
crete facts  of  human  life  and  the  external  aspects  of 
cosmic  cataclysms.  The  really  imaginative  poet-mus- 
ician feels  the  almost  infinite  suggestions  which  radiate 
even  from  a  domestic  incident,  which  to  the  ordinary 
complacent  person  is  purely  a  commonplace  fact ;  and 
can  move  mankind  by  telling  them  what  he  feels  about 
it  in  real  music  far  more  than  the  unimaginative  maker 
of  effects  could  do  by  a  realistic  representation  of 
the  eruptions  of  Krakatoa  and  Mont  Pelee  and  the 
earthquakes  in  Valparaiso  and  San  Francisco  all  rolled 
into  one.  It  is  the  range  of  the  field  of  imagination 
excited  by  the  initiatory  thought  which  shows  the 
scope  of  the  temperament.  Music  does  not  require 
cataclysms  to  evoke  its  power;  the  slightest  incident 
which  has  any  touching,  beautiful,  elevating,  or 
otherwise  emotional  associations  is  sufficient,  if,  as  in 
Bach's  case,  the  range  of  command  of  artistic  resources 
is  proportionate  to  the  im.aginative  activity. 

This  inevitably  leads  to  the  threshold  of  the  im- 
portant question  whether  great  art  should  admit  the 
expression  of  the  baser  qualities  of  human  nature  or 
only  select  the  nobler.  There,  obviously,  the  question 
of  opera  comes  in.     For  the  adequate  presentation  of 

36 


562  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

a  dramatic  subject  it  is  indispensable  that  music  should 
accept  frankly  the  mission  of  expressing  the  vicious, 
the  spiteful,  even  the  mean  and  crafty  and  base.  The 
responsibility  of  the  composer  is  shifted.  The  music 
ceases  to  be  representative  of  his  own  personality,  and 
only  suggests  his  imaginative  self-transference  into 
some  other  personality  —  the  extent  to  which  the 
practice  of  performing  operatic  excerpts  in  con- 
cert rooms  has  modified  the  conception  of  unoperatic 
music  cannot  be  gainsaid.  It  is  obvious,  in  any  case, 
that  the  sense  of  personal  responsibility  for  music 
which  is  not  intended  for  the  stage  has  been  weakened. 
But  in  Bach's  time  such  a  situation  was  not  even  fore- 
shadowed on  the  most  distant  horizon.  Mild  as  was 
the  operatic  standard  of  his  tim.e,  he  had  next  to 
nothing  to  do  with  it.  He  studied  the  operatic 
airs  of  his  forerunners  and  contemporaries,  and, 
pressure  of  time  and  urgent  labour  constraining 
him,  accepted  the  mere  form  of  the  operatic  aria 
for  the  majority  of  his  solo  movements  in  the  can- 
tatas. It  may  further  be  admitted  in  a  passing 
parenthesis  that  the  arias  are  for  the  most  part  the 
least  personal  and  the  least  successful  manifestations 
of  his  powers.  But  apart  from  them  it  is  the  quality 
of  the  personality  in  Bach's  works  which  is  of  such 
supreme  importance  and  interest.  Even  if  men  on 
the  advice  of  their  chosen  prophets  abandon  the  old 
theory  of  the  sincerity  and  nobility  of  art,  human 
nature  at  least  will  pay  tribute  to  the  greatness  of 
spirit,  nobility  of  disposition,  sincerity  and  singleness 
of  heart  which  are  so  amply  displayed.  The  founda- 
tion of  Bach's  musical  personality  is  devotionalism. 
But  it  was  a  devotionalism  so  spacious  and  compre- 


Postscript  563 

hensive  that  a  large  portion  of  its  manifestations  were 
emotions  applicable  to  human  life  at  large  in  its  noblest 
phases.  All  the  purely  ornamental  part  of  ritual  is 
conspicuously  absent  from  his  religious  works;  and 
even  if  Lutheran  theology  influenced  the  product,  it 
did  not  cause  the  drying  up  of  the  sources  of  inde- 
pendent inspiration. 

As  has  been  shown,  the  line  of  demarcation  be- 
tween his  sacred  and  secular  works  is  not  at  all  decisive. 
The  moods  which  manifested  themselves  in  the  latter 
are,  for  the  most  part,  not  at  all  out  of  place  in  sacred 
surroundings,  and  the  loftiness  of  the  standard  of  style 
makes  all  the  phases  akin.  The  conditions  of  his  life 
ministered  constantly  to  this  emphasis  on  personality, 
for  the  persistent  labour  in  which  it  must  have  been 
passed  in  order  to  develop  his  powers  and  produce  the 
enormous  mass  of  his  works,  inevitably  enhanced  the 
predisposition  to  meditation : — to  his  paying  more  atten- 
tion to  the  art  as  it  affected  himself  than  as  it  affected 
other  people.  As  has  been  said,  he  was  never  much  of 
a  public  man,  though  his  organ  works  show  an  ample 
measure  of  the  characteristics  of  a  public  performer. 
But  even  as  a  public  performer  he  was  an  idealist,  and 
thought  more  of  those  who  might  be  on  a  level  with 
himself  in  perception  than  of  the  hosts  of  those  who 
can  be  imposed  upon  by  vain  show.  His  instinct  of 
responsibility  to  his  art  had  grown  to  such  a  strength 
by  the  time  he  attained  to  a  more  public  position  at 
Leipzig  that  he  still  went  on  writing  as  if  it  were  mainly 
for  himself.  His  supreme  interest  was  to  explore  all 
the  possibilities  of  art,  and  to  go  on  from  strength  to 
strength  until  the  end. 

But  it  is  well  not  to  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  the 


564  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

conditions  of  his  life  were  not  without  their  drawbacks. 
The  stress  under  which  his  work  was  often  done  made 
him  reiterate  any  scheme  which  had  proved  efficacious 
to  the  extent  of  nearly  arriving  at  monotony.  This 
has  been  pointed  out  in  connection  with  the  plan  of 
his  later  cantatas,  it  must  certainly  be  admitted  in 
connection  with  his  da  capo  arias,  and  also  with  certain 
features  of  his  instrumentation.  It  made  him  adopt 
a  certain  procedure  at  relatively  the  same  points  in 
many  movements;  such  as  the  sequences  which  so 
frequently  manifest  themselves  after  the  presentation 
of  his  subjects.  It  also  betrayed  him  into  allowing 
his  wonderful  susceptibility  to  respond  too  hastily. 
He  was  susceptible  to  everything;  a  salient  word,  or  an 
analogy,  or  an  association  of  sentiment  all  quickly 
generated  the  musical  response,  and  sometimes  the 
salient  word  was  not  the  one  which  gave  the  true 
meaning  of  the  sentence.  Moreover  the  salient  word 
too  often  invited  the  realistic  suggestion,  of  which 
many  examples  have  been  given,  such  as  the  laughter 
in  Unser  Mund  sei  voll  Lachens  and  the  Erschrecke 
passage  in  the  tenor  aria  in  Herr  Deine  Augen  sehen 
nach  dent  Glauhen  (p.  444). 

Such  realistic  suggestions,  which  were  doubtless 
symbolic  to  him,  caused  him,  in  the  stress  of  work,  not 
to  apply  the  full  measure  of  his  judgment.  Yet  they 
are,  after  all,  but  one  feature  out  of  many  in  the  com- 
plex presentation  of  his  inner  nature,  and  they  are 
generally  amply  counterbalanced  by  simultaneous 
musical  traits  of  higher  efficacy.  Their  existence  is 
probably  due  to  lack  of  time  for  reconsideration,  and 
they  occur  for  the  most  part  only  in  works  which  had 
to  be  finished  by  a  given  time. 


Postscript  565 

When  trying  to  estimate  the  reasons  for  the  lack  of 
general  appreciation  of  Bach's  work  in  his  own  time  it  is 
obvious  that  whereas  he  concentrated  so  much  of  his 
powers  on  the  infinite  possibilities  of  polyphony, 
by  an  odd  fatality,  those  were  just  the  artistic  phe- 
nomena which  the  world  in  general  was  ceasing 
to  care  about.  Bach's  career  just  coincides  with 
the  first  stages  of  the  era  of  the  classical  sonata  and 
the  Italian  opera.  The  two  things  went  together  be- 
cause they  both  represented  a  simplified  form  of  art 
in  which  clearness  and  orderliness  of  design  were  the 
main  requirements,  and  these  properties  made  music 
much  easier  to  listen  to.  The  effect  was  to  make  the 
fashionable  people  who  patronised  art  disinclined  for 
concentration  of  mind  and  for  the  attitude  of  energetic 
receptivity  which  is  indispensable  to  the  appreciation 
of  art's  highest  manifestations.  The  musical  pabulum 
of  the  majority  of  the  prosperous  and  fashionable  folk 
was  innocent  and  polite  babble  carefully  administered 
in  unvarying  conventional  quantities.  Later  on,  more 
strenuous  lovers  of  instrumental  music  were  led  step 
by  step  back  to  a  higher  standard  of  the  new  kind  of 
art,  by  Philipp  Emanuel  Bach,  Mozart,  Haydn,  and 
Beethoven ;  but  the  impetus  of  the  downward  tendency 
of  the  opera  continued  for  a  century,  till  it  arrived  at 
the  unspeakable  humiliations  of  the  Italian  opera  of  the 
first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Over  and  above  these  influences,  the  world  was  just 
beginning  to  turn  its  back  on  true  devotional  music. 
Bach  said  the  last  word  in  that  line  for  nearly  a  century; 
while  other  composers  were  engaged  in  supplying  smart 
Sunday  congregations  with  colourless  samples  of  the 
same  sort  of  music  they   had   been    listening   to  at 


566  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

the  opera  in  the  week,  leaving  the  insignificant  few 
whose  rehgion  was  a  reaHty  to  look  for  their  music  in 
humble  corners.  In  fact,  the  section  of  the  world  which 
had  any  connection  with  music  was  like  a  mob  that 
suddenly  turns  its  back  on  an  orator  to  look  at  mounte- 
banks, whose  amiable  antics  amuse  without  calling 
for  any  exercise  of  energetic  attention.  Bach  went  on 
his  way  and  expended  the  full  powers  of  his  well  en- 
dowed nature  in  developing  every  available  side  of  his 
art,  so  that  it  might  minister  ever  more  and  more  to 
the  full  expression  of  every  phase  of  sentiment,  asso- 
ciation, aesthetic  interest, and  emotional  utterance;  and 
the  more  he  achieved,  the  farther  he  got  away  from 
the  trend  of  the  art  of  his  time.  Indolence  is  always 
ready  to  accept  any  subtle  hint  which  excuses  the 
relaxation  of  attention.  It  was  sufficient  for  the  little 
petty  weaknesses  of  human  nature  that  it  should  be 
rumoured  abroad  that  one  John  Sebastian  Bach  was  a 
queer  old  sedentary  organist,  who  devoted  the  greater 
part  of  his  life  to  the  contriving  of  extraordinary 
musical  puzzles,  and  that  such  dry  mechanical  futilities 
were  quite  old-fashioned  and  out  of  the  pale  of  any 
intelligent  connoisseur's  attention.  Not  only  were  the 
ears  deaf,  but  what  filtered  through  them  found 
the  mental  machinery  out  of  gear.  The  attitude  of 
the  world  to  Bach  was  so  absolutely  indifferent  that 
as  soon  as  he  was  dead  it  almost  seemed  as  if  a  humble 
and  obscure  story  was  ended. 

A  certain  fame  he  had  as  an  organ  player,  as  one  who 
could  do  sundry  things  which  other  people  could  not, 
as  a  strong  and  independent  personality.  When  his 
funeral  took  place  on  July  31,  1850,  it  was  emphasised 
mainly  as  that  of  an  official  of  St.  Thomas's  School,  and 


Postscript  567 

was  attended  by  the  school.  The  indefatigable  Philipp 
Spitta  found  a  note  written  on  a  quarto  sheet,  in  the 
library  of  the  Historical  Society  at  Leipzig,  which 
records  that  the  preacher  at  St.  Thomas's  Church  on 
that  date  made  the  bare  announcement  that  "the 
worthy  and  venerable  Herr  Johann  Sebastian  Bach, 
Hofcomponist  to  His  Kingly  Majesty  of  Poland  and 
Cantor  to  the  School  of  St.  Thomas  in  this  town,  having 
fallen  calmly  and  blessedly  asleep  in  God,  his  body  has 
this  day,  according  to  Christian  usage,  been  consigned 
to  the  earth  in  St.  Thomas's  Churchyard." 

Of  so  little  importance  did  the  matter  appear  that 
Spitta,  whose  devoted  efforts  to  discover  every  detail 
of  interest  in  connection  with  his  hero  were  quite 
inexhaustible,  can  only  report  vaguely  that  the  grave 
was  near  the  church;  and  that  when,  in  the  following 
century,  rearrangement  of  public  thoroughfares  neces- 
sitated the  removal  of  the  ancient  graveyard  to  make 
way  for  a  road,  the  traces  of  its  position  were  completely 
swept  away,  and  the  place  of  it  was  known  no  more. 
The  reference  which  was  made  to  Bach's  death  at  a 
meeting  of  the  Town  Council  shortly  after  was  business- 
like, unfriendly,  and  couched  in  terms  which  could  not 
possibly  have  been  used  if  anyone  had  had  the  very 
faintest  glimmering  of  Bach's  greatness  as  a  composer. 
It  spoke  of  him  as  ''a  great  musician,  but  not  a  school- 
master," and  generally  observed  that  "the  school  re- 
quired a  Cantor  and  not  a  Kapellmeister." 

Even  more  piteous  was  what  followed.  Anna  Mag- 
dalena,  for  whom,  remembering  her  beautiful  connec- 
tion with  her  husband,  it  is  difficult  not  to  feel  a 
personal  affection,  whose  life  had  been  intertwined 
with    his    so   long  by   the    tenderest    strands,  whose 


568  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

handwriting  appears  so  often  mingled  with  his,  whose 
musical  nature  had  been  nurtured  so  tenderly  by  him, 
fell  into  the  direst  poverty,  for  a  time  was  in  receipt  of 
charity,  and  died  as  an  almswoman  in  1760,  and  all 
traces  of  the  place  of  her  burial  have  disappeared. 

As  has  been  said,  very  few  of  Bach's  compositions 
were  printed  in  his  lifetime,  and  most  of  his  manuscripts 
were  divided  between  his  sons  Friedemann  and  Philipp 
Emanuel  after  his  death.  To  the  carefulness  and 
discreetness  of  the  latter  the  world  owes  the  greater 
part  of  what  has  remained  accessible  in  later  days. 
What  Friedemann  took  was,  owing  to  his  dissipated 
habits,  lost  or  sold  piecemeal  when  destitution  came 
upon  him.  Some  works  fell  into  the  hands  of  men 
who  appreciated  their  value,  and  have  been  recovered ; 
some  were  hopelessly  lost.  Yet  there  must  have 
been  some  continuity  between  the  closing  of  his  life's 
work  and  the  reawakening  of  the  world  to  his  message 
some  half  a  century  and  more  later;  and  this  was 
mainly  supplied  by  the  tradition  which  he  handed 
down  to  his  various  pupils,  and  the  permanent  in- 
fluence he  established  upon  their  artistic  convictions. 

Sufficient  has  been  said  of  his  discomforts  in  connec- 
tion with  the  choir  of  St.  Thomas's  Church,  and  of  his 
relations  with  the  authorities  of  the  school,  to  justify  the 
inference  that  he  lacked  the  disposition  for  managing 
boys  or  inspiring  them  with  any  regard  for  his  au- 
thority. But  it  must  certainly  have  been  otherwise 
with  young  men  of  sense  and  ability  who  had  the 
privilege  of  becoming  his  pupils,  for  he  left  behind  a 
remarkable  group  of  distinguished  musicians  who  were 
sufficiently  imbued  with  the  influence  of  his  spirit  to 
keep  the  memory  of  his  work  alive.     Several  of  such 


Postscript  569 

pupils  were  of  his  own  stock,  such  as  his  unfortunate 
eldest  son  Friedemann,  by  whose  gifts  he  set  such  store, 
and  Philipp  Emanuel,  who  at  least  had  the  advantage 
of  living  in  such  a  glorious  musical  atm^osphere  and 
imbibing  ennobling  influences,  even  if  his  disposition 
and  the  conditions  of  the  time  led  him  into  the  cul- 
tivation of  a  diiferent  field  of  art  from  his  father's. 
The  youngest  of  the  sons,  Johann  Christian,  must 
assuredly  also  have  learnt  from  his  father,  for  he  was 
fifteen  when  he  died.  But  the  line  he  took  in  art  was 
strangely  dilTerent  from  his  father's,  as  he  became  a 
popular  composer  of  Italian  operas,  and  exerted  much 
influence  on  Mozart.  Besides  these  there  was  his 
nephew  Samuel  Anton,  son  of  Johann  Ludwig  Bach 
of  Meiningen,  who  lived  in  the  house  with  his  uncle's 
family  for  some  time;  and  also  a  son  of  Bernhard 
Bach  of  Eisenach,  who  joined  the  ranks  of  the 
pupils.  In  one  case  Bach  had  the  pleasure  of 
having  two  generations  as  pupils;  for  Johann  Tobias 
Krebs,  who  had  been  a  pupil  in  the'  Weimar  time, 
sent  his  three  sons  to  the  Leipzig  University,  and 
one,  at  least,  became  a  favourite  pupil  of  John 
Sebastian's,  who  is  said  to  have  called  him  "der 
einzige  Krebs  in  meinem  Bache."  This  same 
Johann  Ludwig  Krebs  was  held  to  be  one  of  the 
greatest  organists  of  the  time  after  Bach's  death,  and 
lived  till  1780.  Another  pupil,  Johann  Schneider, 
who  had  been  with  Bach  at  Cothen,  came  to  him 
again  in  Leipzig,  and  ultimately  became  organist  of 
the  Church  of  St.  Nicholas.  Among  the  most  dis- 
tinguished of  all  the  pupils  was  Johann  Friederich 
Agricola,  who  was  at  the  University  of  Leipzig  and 
studied  with    Bach  from  about  the  year   1738.     He 


570  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

went  to  Berlin  in  1741  and  gained  the  reputation  of 
being  the  finest  organist  in  the  city,  and  in  1759  ^^^^ 
became  court  composer.  He  was  loyal  to  the  memory 
of  his  master,  and  is  said  to  have  helped  Philipp  Eman- 
uel to  draw  up  records  of  his  life  and  ways.  Another 
well-known  pupil  was  Johann  Philip  Kirnberger,  who 
was  with  Bach  from  1739  to  1741.  The  name  of  J.  T. 
Goldberg  has  been  mentioned  for  his  fortunate  connec- 
tion with  one  of  Bach's  greatest  works;  and  J.  C. 
Altnikol  has  also  been  mentioned  for  his  pathetic  con- 
nection with  his  master's  last  hours,  and  for  his  having 
become  a  member  of  the  fam.ily  by  marrying  Bach's 
daughter  in  1749.  He  did  not  survive  many  years, 
but  died  in  1759.  To  these  may  be  added  L.  C. 
Mizler,  who  was  one  of  the  first  to  put  on  record  some 
of  the  facts  of  his  master's  life;  and  J.  F.  Doles,  who 
was  at  St.  Thomas's  School  when  Mozart  came  to 
Leipzig  many  years  after,  and  roused  his  enthusiasm 
by  showing  him  some  of  the  Choral  Motets.  Of  the 
few  pupils  who  survived  till  the  eve  of  the  reawaken- 
ing, J.  C.  Kittel  seems  to  have  been  the  longest 
lived.  He  is  said  to  have  been  thoroughly  loyal  to 
his  master's  teaching,  and  to  have  passed  it  on  to  his 
pupils.  He  lived  till  1809;  and  in  that  same  year 
died  the  last  of  Bach's  actual  family,  the  youngest 
daughter,  Regina  Johanna,  who,  like  her  mother,  was 
mainly  dependent  upon  charity  in  the  latter  part 
of  her  life. 

In  the  minds  of  pupils,  and  of  a  few  who  were  capable 
of  realising  dimly  what  Bach  was,  the  traditions  lingered 
on.  After  more  than  half  a  century  of  almost  complete 
oblivion,  men  began  to  look  with  astonishment  at  the 
few  works  which  were  still  available  to  the  world,  and 


Postscript  571 

began  to  guess  what  a  dire  oversight  had  been  made. 
It  began  to  dawn  upon  them  that  these  were  no  products 
of  mere  pedantry  and  mechanical  skill,  but  the  ut- 
terances of  such  a  splendid  and  poetic  personality  as 
had  rarely  appeared  in  the  world.  ^  The  ''Wohltem- 
perirtes  Clavier"  and  the  organ  works  began  to  inspire 
men  with  enthusiasm;  Mendelssohn  in  1829  performed 
the  "Matthaus-Passion"  in  Leipzig  a  hundred  years 
after  the  first  performance.  Impetus  was  generated. 
The  greatest  performers  found  things  worthy  of  their 
steel;  the  greatest  interpreters  found  things  of  such 
moment  and  such  depth  of  meaning  as  invited  the 
happiest  exercise  of  all  their  highest  qualities.  A 
perfect  army  of  workers  joined  in  the  labour  of  searching 
for  and  disinterring  works  that  had  lain  in  the  dust  of 
decades,  in  collating,  editing,  suggesting  readings  of 
things  incomplete,  in  developing  the  technique  and 
even  the  attitude  of  mind  most  apt  to  understand,  and 
in  expounding  and  disseminating  the  knowledge  of 
such  an  inexhaustible  mine  of  wealth.  At  last  the  very 
waifs  and  strays  of  great  cities  come  to  hear  his 
message,  and  children  find  a  ready  delight  in  things 
which  seem  to  have  been  made  especially  for  their 
innocent  pleasure. 

The  unremitting  labour  of  a  long  lifetime  seems  to 
have  brought  little  reward  to  the  labourer  himself  but 

1  Among  those  to  whom  the  heartiest  recognition  is  due  for 
the  service  he  did  in  attracting  attention  to  Bach's  works, 
was  Samuel  Wesley,  the  father  of  Samuel  Sebastian  Wesley 
who,  as  early  as  1808,  was  writing  and  working  with  the  ut- 
most enthusiasm  to  awaken  men's  minds,  and  soon  after  that 
time  brought  out  with  Home  the  first  edition  of  the  "  Forty- 
eight"  in  England. 


572  Johann  Sebastian  Bach 

the  content  of  having  achieved,  the  satisfaction  of  the 
need  of  the  artistic  impulse  which  would  not  be  gain- 
said. For  such  a  nature  the  joy  of  doing  and  accom- 
plishing was  reward  enough  Had  it  been  otherwise, 
the  world  would  not  have  the  opportunity  of  rejoicing 
in  the  revelation  of  a  personality  so  noble  and  so 
inspiring  as  that  of  John  Sebastian  Bach. 


INDEX 


*'Abendmtisik"    at   Liibeck, 

46 
Ach  Gott  vom  Himmel  si  eh' 

darein  (Cantata),  380,  413 
Ach      Gott,     wie      manches 

Herzeleid,  No.  i  (Cantata), 

414 
Ach      Gott,     wie     manches 

Herzeleid,  No.  2  (Dialogue 

Cantata),  4^0 
Ach  Herr,  mich  armen  Sun- 
der  (Cantata)   419 
Ach,  ich  sehe  (Cantata),  98 
Ach,   lieben    (Christen    (Can- 
tata), 412 
Ach,  wie  fliichtig  (Cantata), 

418 
Actus  Tragicus  (Gottes  Zeit) , 

76,  426 
Aerg're   dich,   o   Seele    nicht 

(Cantata),    212 
Agricola,  J.  F.,  569 
Ahle,  J.  R.,  7,  32,  49 
Ahle,  George,  49 
Albinoni,  66 

Allein  zu  Dir  (Cantata),  423 
Alles  nur  nach  Gottes  Willen 

(Cantata),  249 
Alles  was  von  Gott  (Cantata) , 

99,  394 
Also     hat      Gott   die     Welt 

geliebt  (Cantata),  330,  451 
Altnikol,  J.  C,  570 
Am   Abend  aber  desselbigen 

Sabbaths  (Cantata),  434 
Amore  traditore  (Italian  Solo 

Cantata),  349 


Angenehmes  Wiederau  (Can- 
tata), 343 

Anhalt-Coethen,  Prince  Leo- 
pold of,  102,  105 

Anna  Magdalena  Bach,  138, 

144,  567 

Anspach,  Margrave  of  350 

An  Wasserfliissen  Babylon 
(Orgel  Choral,  No.  i),  504 

An  Wasserfliissen  Babylon 
(Orgel  Choral,  No.  2),   539 

Aria  form,  198 

Arioso,  42,  394,  425 

Arnstadt,    20,    35 

Ascension    Oratorio,    370 

Auf  Christi  Himmelfahrt 
allein  (Cantata),  421 

Auf.schmetternde  Tone  (Sec- 
ular Cantata),  337 

Aus  der  Tiefe  (Cantata;,  54 

Aus   tiefer    Noth    (Cantata), 

417 
Aus     tiefer     Noth     (Choral- 
vorspiel),  472 


B 


Bach,  ^gidius,  15 

"      Ambrosius,  18,  26,  28, 

51 
"      Anna  Magdalena,  138, 

144,  567 
**      Bernhard,  15,  569 
"     Carl  Philipp  Emanuel, 

io3»    115.    530.    568, 

569 
"      Christoph,  18,  26 


573 


574 


Index 


Bach,  Elizabeth,  i8 
"      Hans,  15,  18,  26 
"      Heinrich,  16 
"      Johann,  15 
"      Johann    Christian    (i), 

15 
"     Johann   Christian    (2), 

569 
"      Johann  Christoph     (i), 

15,    16,    17,    83,    283 
"     Johann  Christoph    (2), 

18,  26,  83 
"     Johann  Christoph   (3), 

28 
"      Johann  Gottfried  Bern- 
hard,  103 
"      Johann  Jakob,  40 
"      Johann  Michael,  16,  17, 

48,  83,  283 
"      Johann    Sebastian,    18 

et  seq. 
"      Kaspar,  15 
"      Katharine      Dorothea, 

"      Maria  Barbara,  48,  51, 

108 
"      Regina  Johanna,  570 
"      Samuel  Anton,  569 
"      Veit,  15 

Wilhelm    Friedemann, 

103,  568 
Barmherziges     Herze    (Can- 
tata), 98 
Bassani,  169 

Bauern  Cantata,  345,  347 
Beethoven.      Concerto  in  G, 

134 
Beethoven,  551 
Bellermann,  loi 
Bereitet  die  Wege(Cantata)  ,97 
Biber,  105 
Bisher   habt    ihr   Nichts   ge- 

beten  (Cantata),  436 
Bleib'  bei  uns  (Cantata),  444 
Bohm,  Georg,  32,  33 
Brandenburg  Concertos,  119, 
336 
No.  I,  in  F  major,    121, 
128,  129 


No,  2,  in  F  major,  121, 

129 
No,  3,  in  G  major,  121, 

129 
No.  4,  in  G  major,  121, 

130 
No.  5,  in  D  major,  121, 

130 
No.  6,  in  B  fiat,  121,  131 
Brandenburg,     Margrave    of 

119,132,138 
Brich    dem   Hungrigen    dein 

Brod  (Cantata),  440 
Briegel,  7,  32 

Bringet  dem     Herrn     (Can- 
tata), 250 
Bull,  John,    113,  476 
Buxtehude,   Dietrich   10,  11, 
12,  39,  45.  46,  63,  64,  74, 
83,  147,  283,  507 


Cambert,  74 

Canon     in     first     chorus    of 

"Ein'  feste  Burg,"  392 
Canons     in      "Musikalisches 

Opfer,"  519 
Canons  in  "Kunst  der  Fuge," 

527 
Cantatas  (Italian),  349 
Cantatas  (sacred),  37,  52,  74, 

199,  373 
Canzona  in  D  minor  (Organ) , 

66 
Capriccio  sopra  la  lontanan- 

za  del  suo  fratello,  40,  272 
Carissimi,  266 
Carlsbad,  108 
Cassel,  1 01 
Cavalli,  iii 

Chaconne  for  violin,  173 
Chaconnes    in  cantatas,    75, 

422 
Chopin,  150 
Chorale  cantatas,  scheme  of 

378 
Chorale     fantasia,     form    of 

182,    271,    379,    400,    424 


Index 


575 


Chorale  fantasias  for  organ, 
182,  472,  535 

Chorale  fantasias  (in  Clavier- 
iibung,  No.  3,)  472 

Chorale  movements  (in  Cla- 
vieriibung,  No.  3,)  472 

Chorale  movements  for  or- 
gan, detached,  502 

Chorale  movements  for  or- 
gan, last  collections  of  537 

Chorale  prelude,  form  of 
(Choral  vorspiel)  10,  11, 
182,  380,  405 

Chorales,  accompaniments 
for  502 

Chorales  for  organ  (Orgel 
Chorale),  535 

Christen,  atzet  diesen  Tag 
(Cantata),  218 

Christ  lag  in  Todesbanden 
(Cantata),  244  et  seq.  376 

Christmas  Oratorio,  340,  352 

Christ  unser  Herr  zum  Jor- 
dan kam  (Cantata),  422 

Christum  wir  sollen  loben 
schon  (Cantata),  417 

Christus,  der  ist  mein  Leben 
(Cantata),  397,  410 

Chromatische  Fantasie,  498, 

547,  553 
Clavier-Biichlein,  No.  i,  113 
"Clavier-Biichlein  vor  Anna 

Magdalena   Bachin, "   139; 

153 
Clavieriibung,  143,  455 
Coethen,  105 
Coffee  Cantata,  348 
Concertos,  Brandenburg,  119. 

See  also  Brandenburg  Con- 
certos. 
Concerto    for     violin     in     A, 

133 
Concerto  for  viohn  in  E,  133 
Concerto  for  two  claviers  in 

C  major,  136 
Concerto  for  two  claviers  in 

C  minor,  136 
Concerto  for  two  violins  in  D 

minor,  134 


Concerto    for    clavier   in    D 

minor,  137 
Concerto,    Italian,    135,    155, 

464 
Confiteor    in   B  minor  mass, 

321. 
Corelli,  119 
Couperin,  105,  114 
Credo  in  B  minor  mass,  316 
Crucifixus  in  B  minor  mass, 

^  317 
Criiger,  32 


Da  Capos,  198,  391,  547 

Das  ist  je  gewisslich  wahr 
(Cantata),  108 

Das  neugebor'ne  Kindelein 
(Cantata),   415 

Dazu  ist  erschienen  (Can- 
tata), 227 

Denn  du  wirst  meine  Seele 
(Cantata),  37 

Der  Friede  sei  mit  dir  (Can- 
tata), 98 

Der  Geist  hilft  unsrer 
Schwachheit  auf  (Motet), 
282 

Der  Herr  ist  mein  getreuer 
Hirt  (Cantata),  425 

Der  Himmel  lacht  (Cantata), 

97 
Der  zufriedengestellte  ^olus 

(Secular  Cantata),  334 
Dialogue  cantatas,  426 
Dialogues,  81,  216,  360,  390, 

426 
Die    Elenden    sollen    essen 

(Cantata),    206 
Die     Himmel     erzahlen     die 

Ehre  Gottes  (Cantata),  206 
Dieskau,  von,  345 
Dieupart,  463 
Die  Wahl  des  Hercules  (Sec- 

ularCantata), 337, 340,  360 
Doles,  J.  F.,  570 
Dramma  per  Musica,  342 
Dresden,  195 


57^ 


Drese,  J.  W.,  59,  104 

Du  Friedefurst,  Herr  Jesu 
Christ  (Cantata),  413,  428 

Du  Hirte  Israel,  hore  (Can- 
tata), 251 

Durch  Adams  Fall  (Chorale) , 
184,  440,  560 

Durchlaucht'ster  Leopold 
(Secular  Cantata),  332 

Du  sollst  Gott  (Cantata) ,  2  60 

Du  wahrer  Gott  (Cantata), 
199 


E 


Easter    Oratorio  ("Kommt, 

eilet"),  367 
Ehre  sei  Gott  (Cantata),  451 
Eisenach,  18 
Ein'    feste   Burg    (Cantata), 

99,  391 
Ein  Herz  das    seinen  Jesum 

(Cantata),  333 
Ein    ungefarbt      Gem  lithe 

(Cantata),  212 
English  suites,  461 
Equal  temperament,  164 
Erdmann,  letter  to  290 
Erforsche  mich,    Gott    (Can- 
tata), 250 
Erfreut     euch,    ihr     Herzen 

(Cantata),  439 
Erf  rente  Zeit  (Cantata),  230 
Erhalt'   uns  Herr  (Cantata), 

415 

Erhohtes  Fleisch  und  Blut 
(Cantata),   333 

Ernesti,  Johann  Heinrich, 
282 

Er  rufet  seinen  Schafen  (Can- 
tata), 436 

Erschallet,  ihr  Lieder  (Can- 
tata), 247 

Erwiinschtes  Freudenlicht 
(Cantata),  245 

Es  erhob  sich  ein  Streit 
(Christoph  Bach),  16 

Es  erhub  sich  ein  Streit  (Can- 
tata), 249 


Index 

Es    ist    das   Heil    (Cantata),  '' 

419 
Es  ist  dir  gesagt  (Cantata), 

440 
Es  ist  ein  trotzig  (Cantata), 

441 
Es   ist  euch    gut  (Cantata), 

449 

Es  ist  nichts  Gesundes  (Can- 
tata), 446 

Es  reifet  euch  ein  schrecklich 
Ende  (Cantata),  436 

Es  wartet  AUes  auf  Dich 
(Cantata),  447 

Et  incarnatus  est  (B  minor 
mass),  407 


Falsche  Welt  dir  trau  ich 
nicht  (Cantata),  433 

Fantasia  in  G  major  (Organ), 
61 

Fantasia  in  G  minor  (Organ) , 

68.  547,  583 
Fantasia     in    C    minor    for 

clavier,  499 
Farewell   Capriccio,   40,    272 
Fingering,  113 
First    series    of    twenty-four 

preludes  and  fugues,  145 
Form  of  sonatas  and   suites, 

484 

Franck,  Salomo,  375 

Frederick  the  Great,  letter 
to  514 

French  overtures,  74,  87, 
175 

French  overture-form  adop- 
ted in  cantatas,  87,  214, 
216,  252,  422 

French  suites,  139,  140,  142, 

143 
Frescobaldi,  8,  66,  147 
Freue    Dich,   erloste    Schaar 

(Cantata),  344 
Froberger,    9,    30,    105,    147, 

476 


Index 


577 


Fugue  in  A  minor  for  clavier, 

470 
Fugue     in     A     minor     with 

arpeggio  prelude,  498 
Fugue   in  E   flat  for  organ, 

(St.  Anne's),  469 
Fugues   in    second    series   of 

twenty-four  preludes  and 

fugues,  490 
Fugues    in   Wohltemperirtes 

Clavier,  the  214 
Fiirchte  dich  nicht  (Motet), 

299 


Gabrieli,  Andrea  8,  147 
Gabrieli,  Giovanni  8,  82,  147 
Gehren,  17 
Geist  und    Seele    (Cantata), 

433 

Gelobet  sei  der  Herr  (Can- 
tata), 422 

Gelobet  seist  Du  (Cantata), 
413,  426 

Geschwinde  ihr  wirbelnden 
Winde  (Phoebus  and  Pan), 

Gese  s  Passion,  234 
Gesner,  J.  M.  287-289 
Gleich  wie  der   Regen  (Can- 
tata), 86 
Goldberg,  J.  T.  474-570 
Goldberg  Variations,  474 
Gott  der  Herr  (Cantata),  39^ 
Gottes    Zeit     (Cantata),"  76, 

426 
Gott    fahret    auf    (Cantata), 

449 

Gott  ist  main  Konig  (Can- 
tata), 52 

Gott  ist  unsre  Zuversicht 
(Cantata),  451 

Gottlob,  nun  geht  das  Jahr 
(Cantata),  260 

Gott,  man  lobet  Dich  (Can- 
tata), 320 

Gott  soil  allein  (Cantata), 
434 


Gott  Vater  der  du  deine 
Sohn  (Choral vorspiel),  380 

Gott  wie  dein  Name  (Can- 
tata), 335 

Ground  bass,  43,  247 


H 


Halle,  100 

Halt'  im  Gedachtniss  (Can- 
tata), 256 
Hamburg,  early  journey  to 

33 
Hamburg,  later,  108,  1 12 
Hammerschmidt,   7,    26,   32, 

81,  82 
Handel,     24,    37,    iii,    118, 

126 
Handel's  "  Passion,"  23  7 
Harmony,  Bach's  556 
Hasse,  3  7 
Haydn,  1 11 

Hennicke,  Count  J.  von  343 
Herr  Christ  der  em'ge  Gottes 

Sohn  (Cantata),  422 
Herr  deine  Augen  (Cantata), 

426,  441,  564 
Herr  gehe  nicht  in's  Gericht 

(Cantata),  258 
Herr  Gott  dich  loben  alle  wir 

(Cantata),  418 
Herr    Gott    dich    loben   wir 

(Cantata),  361 
Herr  Jesu  Christ  du  hochstes 

Gut  (Cantata)  415 
Herr     Jesu     Christ     wahr  r 

Mensch    und    Gott    (Can- 
tata), 146 
Herr  wie  Du  willt  (Cantata), 

252 
Herz  und   Mund    (Cantata), 

99 
Himmelskonig,  sei  willkom- 

men  (Cantata),  96 
Hochsterwiinschtes  Freuden- 

fest  (Cantata),  216 
Home,  571 
Hortus    Musicus    (Reinken), 

34,  72 


d7 


578 


Index 


Ich  bin  ein  guter  Hirt  (Can- 
tata), 438 

Ich  bin  in  mir  vergniigt  (Can- 
tata), 351 

Ich  bin  vergniigt  mit  meinem 
Gliicke  (Cantata),  431 

Ich  elender  Mensch  (Can- 
tata), 420  (note) 

Ich    freue    mich    (Cantata), 

423 
Ich  geh'  und  suche  (Cantata), 

434 

Ich  glaube,  lieber  Herr  (Can- 
tata), 439 

Ich   habe   genug    (Cantata), 

433 

Ich  hab'  in  Gottes  Herz  (Can- 
tata), 401,  404 

Ich  habe  meine  Zuversicht 
(Cantata),  435 

Ich  hatte  viel  Bekiimmemiss 
(Cantata),  90,  216 

Ich  lasse  dich  nicht  (Can- 
tata),  256 

Ich  lasse  dich  nicht  (Motet), 
17  (note),  302 

Ich     liebe      den      Hochsten 
j     (Cantata),  434 
yich    ruf    zu   Dir   (Cantata), 
422 

Ich  steh*  mit  einem  Fuss 
(Cantata),  435 

Ich  weiss  dass  mein  Erloser 
lebt  (Cantata),  85 

Ich  will  den  Kreuzstab 
(Cantata),  433 

Ihr  die  ihr  Euch  (Cantata), 
213 

Ihr  Menschen,  riihniet  (Can- 
tata), 251 

Ihr  werdet  weinen  (Can- 
tata), 447 

In  alien  meinen  Thaten  (Can- 
tata), 422 

Instrumentation  in  the 
Christmas  Oratorio,  364 

Inventions,  118 


Italian   Concerto,    135,    155, 

464 
Italian  Overture,  368 
Italians,  musical  aptitudes  of 

6 


Jauchzet  Gott  (Solo  Canta- 
ta), 431 

Jesu  der  du  meine  Seele 
(Cantata),  422 

Jesu  meine  Freude  (Chorale), 
228 

Jesu  meine  Freude  (Motet), 
292 

Jesu  nun  sei  gepreiset  (Can- 
tata), 424 

Jesus  nahm  zu  sich  (Cantata), 
199,  200 

Jesus  schlaft  (Cantata),  229 

Johannes-Passion,  231-243 


K 


KafEee  Cantata,  348 

Kayserling,  Baron,  477 

Keiser,  Reinhard  33 

Reiser's  Passion,  238 

Kerl,  30 

Kiesewetter,  59 

Kirnberger,  J.,  570 

Kittel,  J.  C,  570 

Komm  du  siisse  Todesstunde 
(Cantata),  98,  417 

Komm,  Jesu  komm  (Motet), 
300 

Kommt,  eilet  und  laufet 
(Easter  Oratorio),  367 

Kortte,  Gottlieb  336 

Krebs,  Johann  Ludwig  569 

Krebs,  J.  T.  569 

Kuhnau,  Johann  13,  41,100, 
147,  186,  456 

Kuhnau's  Biblical  History- 
Sonatas,  14 

Kuhnau's  Passion,  238 

Kunst  der  Fuge,  52Q 


Index 


579 


Lammerhirt,  Elizabeth,  i8 
L'Art  de  toucher  le  Clavecin, 

114 
Lass,  Fiirstin  (Trauer  Ode), 

262 
Lasst    uns    sorgen     (Secular 

Cantata),  246,  338 
Laughter  in  "  Unser  Mund," 

564 

Legrenzi,  65 

Leichtgesinnte  Flattergeister 
(Cantata),  247 

Leipzig,  186,  193, 

Leipzig,  influence  of  263 

Leipzig  Musical  Society,  541 

Leipzig  Town  Council,  191 

Leitmotiv,  254 

Letter  to  Frederick  the 
Great,  520 

Liebster  Gott  wann  werd'  ich 
sterben  (Cantata),  260 

Liebster  Immanuel  (Can- 
tata), 418 

Liebster  Jesu,  mein  Verlan- 
gen  (Cantata),  437 

Liszt,  478 

Little    Clavier     Book,      113- 

145 
Lobe  den  Herrn,  meine  Seele 

(Xo.  I,  Cantata),  248 
Lobe  den  Herrn,  meine  Seele 

(No.  2,  Cantata),  24S 
Lobe  den  Herrn  den  mach- 

tigen      Konig      (Cantata), 

400 
Lobet    den    Herrn    (Motet), 

302 
Lobet  Gott  in  seinen  Reichen 

(Ascension  Oratorio),  370 
Lobgesang       (Mendelssohn) , 

396 
Lob  und  Ehre  (Motet)  302 
Lotti,  Mass  in  G  minor,  350 
Low,  Jacob  32 
Liibeck,  45,  47 
Lulli,  74,  87,  176 
Liineburg,  32  ^i  seq. 


M 

Mache  dich  mein  Geist  bereit 

(Cantata),  417,  437 
Magnificat,  218,  227,  245,  437 
Man     singet     mit     Freuden 

(Cantata),  332 
Marchand,  102 
Maria  Barbara  Bach,  48 
Marienklagen,  238 
Masses,  305 
Mass  in  A  major,  325 
Mass  in  B  minor,  307 
Mass  in  F  major,  325 
Mass  in  G  major,  324,  447 
Mass  in  G  minor,  324,  447 
Mattheson,  68 
Matthaus-Passion,  265 
Mein   glaubiges   Herze,    262, 

33^y  451 

Mein  Gott  wie  lang'  (Can- 
tata), 99 

Meinen  Jesum  lass  ich  nicht, 
(Cantata),  420 

Mein  liebster  Jesus  (Can- 
tata), 229 

Meine  Seele  erhebt  den  Herrn 
(Cantata),  415 

Meine  Seele  riihmt  (Cantata), 

437 

Meine  Seufzer  (Cantata),  437 

Melisma,  use  of  93,  399,  405, 
426,  443,  445 

Mendelssohn,  74,  280,  571 

Mer  Hahn  en  neue  Oberkeet 
(Bauern  Cantata),  345 

Merulo,  Claudio  8 

Mit  Fried'  und  Freud '  (Can- 
tata), 404,  411,  426 

Mit  Gnaden  bekrone  (Secular 
Cantata),  333 

Mizler,  L.  C.  109,  570 

Monteverde,  8;^,   100,   in 

Motets,  282  et  seq. 

Muffat,  Georg  9,  105,  470 

Miihlhausen,  49 

Miiller,  A.  F.,  334 

Musikalische  Opfer,  Das,  513, 
515.  516 


An  Ideal  Biography 


Richard    Wagner 

His  Life  and  His  Dramas 

A  Biographical  Study  of  the  Man  and  an 
Explanation  of  His  Work 

By 

W.  J.  Henderson 

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"  The  definitive  Goethe  biography  "—The  Dial, 

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world,  full  of  romantic  interest,  vividly  picturesque  and  written  with  easy 
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The  Princess  who  during  the  latter  portion  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XVL 
was  known  par  excellence  in  France  and  throughout  Europe  as  "  Madame," 
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